Maradu apartments demolition: Evacuation of people from neighbourhood begins -

Time is up: The two apartment complexes of Alfa Serene (left) and H2O Holy Faith that will be demolished on Saturday.

The first blast will take place at the extreme right corner of the ground floor of H2O Holy Faith at 11 a.m.

  

Kochi'sH2O Holy Faith and Alfa Serene, the apartments built in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules at Maradu, are all set to be knocked down on January 11 using emulsion explosives.

The first blast will take place at the extreme right corner of the ground floor of H2O Holy Faith at 11 a.m., which will then spread to other floors at lightning speed. The explosive materials will go off one after the other at regular intervals, which have been pre-set using delay detonators. It may take 5.6 seconds to reduce the 16-floor building to rubble.

Police have started evacuating people from near the H2O Holy Faith apartment. The vehicular movement has also been stopped along the road that leads to the apartment. The evacuation of people including the onlookers will began by 9 a.m. said Fort Kochi RDO Snehil Kumar Singh, who is overseeing the demolition of flats. Mr. Singh who arrived at the area held final round of  discussions with the members of the technical committee and police officials.

Precautions being taken

1. Rapid Response Team near all sites for medical emergency

2. Four ambulances on Day 1 – two each at a site; one additional ambulance on Day 2

3. Private hospitals in the vicinity to aid Government medical team

4. Ambulance@108 on standby

5. Eight fire tenders on Day 1 – four each at a site

6. Fire tenders to be at 200 metres from implosion

7.  Control Room to order waterspray by fire tenders after two minutes of explosion

8. Water pumping to houses to be stopped during the operation

9. Electricity to be switched off

Problems expected

10. Dust to create visibility problems

11. People in the vicinity should wear good quality masks to keep dust away to avoid respiratory problems; cement dust could create problems for asthma patients

Dos And Don'ts

1. People are advised not to take pictures with mobiles of ambulances and fire tenders when they are on the move

2. Do not cross the exclusion zone

3. Follow the instructions issued by the authorities

4. Watch the demolition from the safe distance