Residents in the vicinity of H2O Holy Faith are glad that dust is the worst they have to deal with. They returned to houses that were caked with dust but intact and without the cracks they feared the implosion would induce.
“The dust inside will take a while to clean, but fortunately, nothing happened to the house,” said Sicily Joseph, whose house is a few metres away from H2O Holy Faith. While the family had been prepared to spend a few days at a relative’s place, they were now considering cleaning the house and moving back in before nightfall, she said. They had covered their house with a large plastic sheet that did not do much to keep the dust away.
Ambrose E.J. who lives in a house over a century old close to the flat, also returned to his house by Saturday evening, with no damage to the structure but dust in every nook and corner.
While Shaji Antony had complained of cracks developing in his home during the pre-demolition work at Holy Faith, the implosion caused no damage, he said. Despite covering the windows with paper and the entire structure with a sheet, the layers of dust prevented the family from returning to the house the same night, though Mr. Antony returned in the evening to examine the place.
Mr. Antony, along with most of the residents near the flat, chose to stay away from the shelter arranged for them at Sacred Heart College, Thevara, choosing to stay with relatives instead. Of the two buses arranged to ferry residents within the evacuation zone of 200 metres to the shelter, only one had to be operated for around eight people from the neighbourhood. Mr. Antony said he chose to avoid the shelter since he was unsure of the medical facilities that might be available at the shelter for his elderly father.
