On Saturday morning, residents in the Maradu neighbourhood of Kochi woke up to the sound of explosions that destroyed two over 18-storey apartment buildings with almost 800 kilos of explosives.
Video footage of the buildings "H20 Holy Faith" and "Alpha Serene" being demolished soon began making the rounds on social networking platforms in India.
Demolition of Alfa Serene #MaraduFlatDemolition #Kochi pic.twitter.com/THH3WoGbfj
— Arun M (@arun_TNIE) January 11, 2020
As part of the four lakeside towers that have been “sentenced to death” by the Indian Supreme Court, more than 350 flats will be destroyed and nearly 240 families will have to re-locate. The families have been given a compensatory allowance of $35,215 (Rs. 25 lakhs) each.
As a precaution, the gathering of crowds in the Maradu area of Kochi has been prohibited. In addition air, land, and water traffic in the area has also been suspended as a safety measure.
Temporary medical and relief centres have also been set up for residents and workers in the evacuation zone.
The remaining two buildings will meet the same fate on Sunday under a carefully controlled demolition process.
Netizens from the area who could see the collapse of the buildings from their windows and terraces have shared raw footage of the explosions on Twitter.
Today at 11:00 AM demolition process started at #Kochi. pic.twitter.com/0dgqwAHkmy
— 🇮🇳 Vidyasagar Jagadeesan 🇮🇳 (@jvidyasagar) January 11, 2020
Dramatic visuals of H20 Holy Faith- an illegal 19 floor apartment being razed down in Kochi today. A lesson for builders buy construct near water bodies. And for buyers too. This one was near a lake and SC ordered demolition. pic.twitter.com/TYP7C2PYVy
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) January 11, 2020
Controlled demolition in #Kochi pic.twitter.com/ITAGlSOd03
— Blacksmith (@tnt_4_brain) January 11, 2020
Holy faith H2O apartment turned to dust. #Maradu #Kochi #Flat pic.twitter.com/5LpDAbvBcU
— Anilkumar (@anilkumartcym) January 11, 2020
10 Seconds
— Shankkar Aiyar (@ShankkarAiyar) January 11, 2020
Demolition to Dust in #Kochi pic.twitter.com/JGegIbTEvi
