A four-member family had a miraculous escape as the front portion of an old building, said to be around 80 years old, located opposite the Maridimamba temple at Kanchara Veedhi in Old Town area, collapsed around 1 a.m. on Thursday.
The family has been living in that house for the past nine years. Marpula Premavathi, her husband, son and daughter have been living in the house despite being aware that the house was in precarious condition as they could not pay higher rents. Her son Prakash works at a small restaurant and his income is barely enough to meet the needs of the family.
“It was around 12.45 a.m. and the sound of thunder and the downpour scared us. All of us were on the first floor in the inner room. All of a sudden the slab of the front room on the first room and also the ground floor collapsed. The rubble blocked the way and there was no way of going out,” Mr. Prakash told this correspondent even as he was overseeing the removal of debris.
Mrs. Premavathi sat on the steps of the opposite house in a dejected mood. She had performed the wedding of one of her two daughters. The other daughter was staying with her as she was handicapped.
“All our belongings are trapped in the house and there is no way of getting into the house, until the rubble at the entrance is cleared,” she said.
A huge metal board erected in front of the temple for the forthcoming festival collapsed and workers were seen cutting the iron poles with cutters to remove it fully. Once that was done, the rubble at the entrance of opposite house could be cleared.
