About 24 hours after the first two of the four illegal Maradu apartments were demolished, explosives brought down the Jain Coral Cove at 11 a.m. as planned. The Golden Kayaloram was brought down at around 2.30 p.m.
The Jain Coral Cove, which had the maximum number of housing units among the four, was razed without incident as per schedule. The Golden Kayaloram was brought down at around 2.30 p.m. after a delay.
Here are the live updates:
Supreme Court order implemented, all four flats razed
With the demolition of the Golden Kayaloram apartments at around 2.30 p.m. on Sunday, all the four illegal flats that came up on the banks of Vembanad Lake, in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules, were razed as ordered by the Supreme Court.
It was on an appeal filed by the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority in the apex court that the Bench, headed by Justice Arun Misra, ordered the demolition of the apartment complexes. The court had even ensured the personal presence of Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose for the failure of the State government to demolish the building. Faced with the wrath of the apex court, the State government had come up with a schedule for the demolition of the buildings.
Golden Kayaloram was the last one in the series. Jain Coral Cove was demolished in the morning. H2O Holy Faith and Alfa Serene were demolished on Saturday.
The anganwadi building is saved from immediate damage following the demolition of Golden Kayaloram in Kochi, January 12, 2020
Golden Kayaloram demolished
Third siren sounded. At 2.29 p.m., Golden Kayaloram was demolished. The building came down in two slices. The anganwadi building doesn't seem to have been damaged, however. Heavy winds blowing from the backwater transports the dust.
Smoke billows out of the blast site where the fourth Maradu apartment, Golden Kayaloram, was razed down at around 2.30 p.m. on Sunday, January 12, 2020
Golden Kayaloram to be demolished in five minutes . The second siren has been sounded. Traffic along the national highway has been halted.
The huge crowd of onlookers who have gathered on the banks of the National Waterway and beneath the Thykkoodam bridge to watch the demolition of Golden Kayaloram, January 12, 2020
The huge crowd of onlookers who have gathered on the banks of the National Waterway and beneath the Thykkoodam bridge to watch the demolition of Golden Kayaloram.
The first siren has been sounded.
The blast has been designed in such a way that the first 10 floors of the building will collapse at the courtyard and the remaining seven towards the backyard.
The structure has been sliced into two and internal walls removed to ensure that the flat would come down in two pieces and the Anganwadi building located nearby is saved, said a structural engineer of Edifice Engineering, which will demolish the building.
15-minute delay for Golden Kayaloram implosion
There's a delay of about 15 minutes for the implosion to be triggered and it's going to be a little more complex compared to the other blasts.
Golden Kayaloram is the smallest of the four apartment complexes demolished in Maradu, but it has an anganwadi within the campus and a towering apartment complex right behind it. The challenge, therefore, is to ensure the debris falls between these two, without damaging them.
Kayaloram to be demolished shortly
Golden Kayaloram, the smallest among the four illegal apartments in Maradu, will be demolished in the afternoon.
The blast has been scheduled to be held at 2 p.m. The initiation point for the blast has been set up at the garage of a nearby building. Edifice Engineering, which razed H2O Holy Faith and Jain Coral Cove, will also bring down the apartment in the afternoon thus implementing the Supreme Court order for demolishing the illegal structures.
Demolition went as planned: Collector
Ernakulam District Collector S. Suhas said the demolition went as planned. However, the road to the site is yet to be opened.
Accoding to A. Bhoominathan, Head of the Civil Engineering Department of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, the building located 120 metre from the demolition site was shaken due to ground vibrations triggered by the demolition.
No major cracks are found at the building located at around 20 metre close to the building.
"We are able to record vibrations very near to the building," he said.
Jain Coral Cove one best of all four blasts, says experts
Blast experts term the Jain Coral Cove implosion as the best of the four blasts carried out till now. Dr. R. Venugopal, Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives, said the building came down in the angle and direction as planned. All the debris was confined to the compound wall of the apartment complex. The water body was safe as no debris landed there, said Dr. Venugopal.
All the houses in the locality were safe barring the minor cracks that were developed on the walls of the building, he added.
According to experts, the wind condition was also conducive for the blast. The breeze was moving in the south-east direction of the building. It took 372 kg of explosive and 10,500 metres of detonation fuse to bring the apartment complex down. The structure came down in 5.6 seconds.
The initiation point was set up at a boat repair facility, which was approved by the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization.
The first few floors of the building came down at 37 degree angle followed by the upper floors at 67 degree angle. Only a few flyoff materials landed in the water body, he said.
Golden Kayaloram to be knocked down at 2 pm
Golden Kayaloram, the fourth and final of the four illegal buildings that were asked to be demolished by the Supreme Court, is scheduled to be knocked down at 2 p.m. today. As per municipal records, there were 41 housing units in Golden Kayaloram.
A view of Golden Kayaloram at 11.50 a.m. on January 12, 2020.
The demolition will take place three hours after that of Coral Cove. The blast will be initiated from the initiation point set up at the garage of a house located 100 metres from the structure. The implosion will split it in the middle in order to ensure zero damage to the structure right behind.
The authorities will coordinate the operations from a control room set up at the office of the Inland Waterways Authority of India.
As per initial reports, the demolition has gone as expected. Fire tenders are now moving to the site of blast. The rescue workers will sprinkle water over the debris to control dust.
Residents cover their faces as dust from the Jain Coral Cove implosion spread across the area
Jain Coral Cove demolished at 11 am
Jain Coral Cove, the third illegal apartment complex in Maradu, was razed in an implosion on Sunday at 11 a.m.
As the implosion was triggered, the Jain Coral Cove apartment started to hit the ground from a corner.
Unlike the other blasts on Saturday, the demolition of Coral Cove shrouded the area in fine dust, but without any hazards. The wind blowing across the lake transported the fine dust over a large area. Some local residents were seen immediately shifting the elderly wearing facemasks to safety.
The house that was located close to the apartment was engulfed in brown dust. The police are yet to open the nearby roads for navigation.
When the 16-storey building was reduced to rubble
As the implosion was triggered, the Jain Coral Cove apartment started to hit the ground from a corner.
The blast triggered further disintegration of the rest of the building in a matter of seconds.
As the building collapsed, a cloud of dust was seen rising from the area
Jain Coral Cove demolished
Thirds siren sounded. The continous siren will go on until the building is razed down.
Jain Coral Cove apartment demolished using controlled implosion method at Maradu in Kochi on Sunday January 12, 2020
The building was knocked as per plan, in a few seconds. The building fell sideways, and a huge cloud of dust was seen in the area.
In a few minutes, another siren will be
The second siren has been sounded at 10.55 a.m. as scheduled. This is the warning signal for demolition of this apartment with 125 housing units.
All pocket roads within 200 metre radius of Jain Coral Cove blocked after the first siren has been sounded.
A view of the 16-storey Jain Coral Cove apartment before demolition
First siren goes off
The first siren has gone off, indicating that the blast will go off shortly. This indicates that all minor roads around the area will be blocked
People gathered near Jain Coral Cove apartment in Maradu in Kochi that is set to be razed on January 12, 2020.
As per the schedule, the second siren will be sounded at 11. 55 a.m., just five minutes before the blast. The third one will be sounded at the 11 a.m. and will continue till the blast is over. Fire tenders will reach the area at 11.30 a.m. after the blast is over.
Third Kochi apartment to be demolished shortly
With one hour left for the demolition of Jain Coral Cove, the third illegal apartment complex in Maradu, police have cordoned off the area.
Police fixed red flags along the 200 metre boundary of the exclusion zone to prevent visitors from entering the area.
Policemen patrol the backwaters near the Jain Apartments to evacuate people
Policemen were seen restricting the movement of vehicles along the road that led to the apartment complex.
Senior police officials including City Police Commissioner Vijay Sakhare arrived at the control room set up at a nearby apartment. The initiation point for the blast has been set up. The building is expected to be razed by 11 a.m.
Edifice Engineering, which demolished the apartment H2O, has been assigned the job of demolishing Coral Cove. They will also demolish Golden Kayaloram at 2 p.m.
When the skyline changed within a day...
On January 11, H2O Holy Faith and the two towers of Alfa Serene were reduced to rubble in a span of a couple of minutes. Move the slider left and right to get a glimpse of the skyline before and after the demolision.
Over 70,000 tonnes of debris to be reused for construction
Almost everything of the over 70,000 tonnes of debris of the apartment blocks erased through implosion at Maradu will be transported to yards spread over 10.6 acres at Aroor and Chandiroor within 70 days and from there to be reused for construction.
New role: Over 70,000 tonnes of debris of the apartment blocks at Maradu will be transported to yards at Aroor and Chadiroor within 70 days.
The demolition contractor will be responsible for segregating the debris and retrieving steel (the reinforcements) for reuse in civil works, in the course of the coming 45 days. The rest of the debris will be cut to size ranging from 6 mm to 20 mm, using rubble master, a concrete-and demolition-downsizing machine, and transported to the yards, sources said.
Residents near razed apartments heave a sigh of relief
At 1.02 p.m. on Saturday, as soon as the final siren rang out, marking the end of restrictions clamped over the 200-metre exclusion zone around the two Maradu apartment complexes that were demolished on Saturday, Hari sprinted back to home, which was the closest to Alfa Serene, one of the two demolished structures.
His anxiety was understandable considering that cracks had appeared near the landing of the staircase leading to the first floor of his house, while a window pane had been broken during the pre-blast dismantling work.
Walking in and out of the rooms checking for potential damage, he emerged from his home through a thick blanket of dust with a calm countenance. “Except for a few breaches on the tin roof by projectiles flying off the debris, there was no other visible damage,” he said.
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