Thursday morning turned into a nightmare for Raees Saleem, a railing craftsman, after a phone call from his brother Haleem.
“The building has fallen. I am under the debris and am having trouble breathing,” was all Haleem could say.
Saleem and his three siblings used to stay in the six-storey Husseini building on Pakmodia Street near JJ Hospital. Saleem had stepped out to buy milk when the building collapsed, trapping his siblings. Fortunately, all three were among the first to be rescued within 10 minutes.
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The ground floor of the building was occupied by commercial establishments like a caterer and a tailor's shop. A sweets supplier adjacent to the building, Tawakkul Sweets, employed five workers, who were sleeping when the building collapsed. Three of them were rescued alive, while the others died. The tailor lost his life, while his daughter is seriously injured, said locals.
The collapse, which claimed 22 lives, left many families broken. Like the Zafar family. Reshma Zafar, who lived on the third floor, survived with serious injuries, while her husband and son were killed. Similarly, all members of a family on the fifth floor died with the exception of a young boy, who had gone out to buy bread for breakfast.
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“I woke up early and had started cooking when the walls started shaking. I rushed out. When I turned back, the building came crashing down in front of my eyes. My two brothers, and three other colleagues all died under the debris,” a numb and grieving Mohammed Sartaj said while standing at the spot, hoping to recover his monthly salary of Rs 14,000 from the rubble.
Residents of the lane poured out on the streets within seconds of the tragedy, rushing to help anyone they could rescue. Eateries in the area came together and cooked lentils and rice in large quantities, and a makeshift kitchen was set up across the lane from the site of the collapse by Thursday afternoon. Residents went from person to person, be it firemen, policemen, NDRF personnel or even locals pitching in with the effort, informing them that food was available whenever they needed it. Other residents contacted local social worker and political workers, and carton after carton of bottled water was rushed to the site.
“ Bheed mat karo, jinka kaam hai unko kaam karne do (Do not gather, let the people work),” Mohammed Ilias (60), a local resident, went around calling out using a handheld loudspeaker, while others helped him disperse the crowds of onlookers who were getting too close to the site. Young boys kept fetching water for the elderly volunteer, who refused to take a break from his efforts till Thursday evening.
At around 3 p.m., Aftab Ali, another local resident, came running to the spot from JJ Hospital and spread the word that blood was needed for those admitted to the hospital. Mr Ilias immediately picked it up and started broadcasting the same through his loudspeaker, with Mr Ali herding donors to the hospital.
As the azaan for the third namaaz sounded, Mr Ilias started extolling people to head to the local mosque and pray for the souls of the departed as well as for speedy recovery of the injured.