If the Maradu demolition plans go awry, the apartment complexes could crash onto nearby structures including houses and a bridge that runs through the area.
When asked about the probability of such a mishap, demolition experts said they did not anticipate such an eventuality and assured that the structures would come down as planned.
“We are sure that the building will come down as planned, and there is not even 0.01% probability for any such mishaps,” said Uttkarsh Mehta, partner of Edifice Engineering, which has been contracted to bring down H2O Holy Faith in association with Jet Demolition, the technology partner.
In the worst-case scenario, the building could tilt and fall on its side against the demolition plans. However, no such incidents have taken place during the three decades of demolition work undertaken by the company, said Mr. Mehta.
There is no question of partial demolition happening and parts of the building remaining over the earth considering the quantity of explosives loaded into the structure. Enough quantities of explosive materials have been loaded, and the building will come down when blasted, he added.
Evacuation
Meanwhile, the evacuation of Maradu residents will begin on Saturday morning and will be completed before 9 a.m. Though there are around 500 people from as many as 133 families residing near Alfa Serene and H2O Holy faith, nearly half of the population have already moved out of their homes. Five buses have been arranged for shifting the remaining residents to rescue camps. The list of bed-ridden residents who may have to be extended support for relocation is being prepared, civic authorities of Maradu said.
IIT team arrives
Armed with accelerometers, geophones, and strain gauges, a team of civil engineering experts from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras began preparations for assessing the impact of the demolition.
Accelerometers and geophones are used to measure the vibration emanating from the ground. The hitting of the concrete parts of the building on the ground will set off vibrations which need to be assessed, and the gadgets will record them, said J.S. Dhanya, a member of the IIT expert team.
Strain gauge will be pasted to the Kundannoor bridge that runs next to H2O Holy Faith to find out whether the structural elements of the bridge, including its columns and beams, are deformed when the load hits the ground, Dr. Dhanya said.
The team has identified as many as 10 spots where the gadgets will be fixed. The IIT team is led by A. Boominathan, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering. It also has Subhadeep Banerjee and Ramon Varghese as members. Data generated by the team will be used to assess the impact of the demolition, which will be crucial in fixing the liability and compensation for damage caused by the process.
