Chennai building collapse: Under the crushing weight

It is feared that at least 40 more persons could be trapped under the mass of concrete, steel and sand.

Even by conservative estimates provided by some builders, the eleven-storied-building that was reduced to a heap on Saturday evening would have left at least 8,000 metric tonnes of rubble.

As the government rescue workers, with some help from some private agencies and technical institutions, continued their operations even under rain, it is feared that at least 40 more persons could be trapped under the mass of concrete, steel and sand. The incessant rains have complicated the rescue operations.

By Sunday morning, the rescue efforts were in full swing with the participation of at least half-a-dozen agencies. The accident site itself was cordoned off, and entry was restricted to rescue workers, the police and the media. Resident living around the site extended their cooperation to the efforts by giving water and food to people engaged in the rescue.

As news spread through the day about the massive collapse, the stretch of Kunrathur Main Road around the accident site was cordoned off. There was no power supply in the locality. Diesel generators were supplied to operate the machines engaged in clearing the debris at the site.

The preliminary investigations headed by M. Saikumar, secretary of PWD, and his team, refuted claims made by the builder on Saturday that the building might have crashed after it was struck by lightning.

Saturday rush

On Sunday, more details emerged on the accident that has claimed the lives of the weekly wage earners, 12 of whom had died at the time of filing this report. More than 40 of them are still feared to be trapped under the rubble. Since Saturday was their ‘wage day’, almost all the workers were supposed to have been at the site to collect their wages when the building crashed.

According to workers at the site, a mason earns up to Rs. 650 a day, a senior worker ( periaal ) Rs. 400 a day while an assistant worker ( chittaal ) Rs. 300 a day. Most of the workers were from neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh and a few were from other northern States.

Reason for collapse

While Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had said it was too early to comment on why the building had collapsed, the accident was the talking point among the builder circles through Sunday. One of the builders, who is currently executing various projects in the city, on condition of anonymity, said the most likely cause for the collapse was a weak foundation. Re-conducting the soil test and studying the structural design of the building would reveal the facts, he said.

Residents living near the construction site too have raised a lot of doubts as to whether the builders had taken the soil conditions there under consideration before taking up construction.

(Reporting by K. Manikandan, T. Madhavan, Petlee Peter and Vivek Narayanan)