Maradu apartment buildings reduced to dust: Watch video

The residents of Maradu neighbourhood in Kochi were witness to demolition of two high rise apartment buildings on Saturday. In a controlled blast, two of the four apartments were demolished following a Supreme Court order last year.
The first building to come crashing down was H20 Holy Faith apartment, the 19-story building which was reduced to dust in a matter of few seconds. The second building was Alfa Serene, the 16-storey twin towers which was also demolished. The other two huge complexes—The Jain Coral Cover complex and Golden Kayaloram will be demolished on Sunday.

Section 144 has been imposed in the area following the demolition.

How the preparations started

The more than two months long massive arrangements for the demolition of the luxury residential apartments in Maradu near here turned successful as the two sky scrapers along Vembanad Lake came down smoothly and swiftly in less than 10 seconds. The 60 metre high Holy Faith H2O and Alfa Serene, the two apartment complexes, built in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone norms, were razed down at 11.15 and 11.40 on Saturday through controlled implosion.

There was not even a minor tremble and the noise of the blast was much less than that of a firework. The thick dust was the only problem faced by the onlookers. The dust subsided soon as the water tenders started spraying water. And when the dust cleared, it was just a huge pile of debris that remained in the water front compound, which was once the most sought after residential plot of Maradu.

Since morning people started to gather at roads, junctions and bridges near Maradu apartments. Strict crowd management plans were in place as thousands of people, even from other districts, have been eagerly waiting to watch the first of its kind building demolition.

Whether this bridge will collapse during the blast was the main concern of women and children waiting under the Kundannoor - Thevara bridge, the nearest viewpoint of the 19-storey Holy Faith H2O apartments. Meanwhile, the youngsters were seen cheering up and shouting slogans against the builders and supporting the authorities.

Though families within 200 metre area of the demolition site were evacuated, the residents anxiously waited outside the restricted area to watch the fate of their houses, covered with geo-textile.

After the successful implosion of Holy Faith H2O at 11, the 17-storey twin towers of Alfa Serene was razed down in a gap of less than two minutes.

Implosion of the two apartments was supervised by various agencies including Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation.

Chief secretary Tom Jose, District collector S Suhas, sub collector in charge of the demolition Snehil Kumar Singh, city police commissioner Vijay Sakhare and other top IAS and IPS officers coordinated the demolition mission.

Watch video here...