10 Killed After 100-Year-Old Building Falls
The four-storey Kesarbai Building which has 16 families and 4 shops in Dongri, Mumbai fell 11.40 am yesterday killing 10 and injuring many.
The four-storey Kesarbai Building which has 16 families and 4 shops in Dongri, Mumbai fell 11.40 am yesterday. Fire tenders and three teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) are carrying out rescue operations and are looking for survivors. Five people, including three children, have been rescued so far. Locals helped by forming a human chain to help remove the debris brick by brick and picking up slabs of concrete to find those buried. Television videos showed a young child being rescued and handed over to workers. The child is alive and was taken to the hospital. 10 people were killed, 9 are injured and 30 are still trapped under the debris.
The lanes are very narrow and congested. When the building collapsed, the ambulance could not reach the building and had to be parked 50 meters away. The four-storey building was situated in a congested, crowded neighbourhood with structures on all four sides. When the building fell tremors could be felt in the adjoining buildings as well. The Fire Brigade said the buildings were unstable and evacuated everybody.
Devendra Fadnavis said the building was 100 years old and illegal. He has promised an inquiry. Old infrastructure, poor planning and a conflicting laws, building codes and jurisdiction mean that no single authority is responsible for the upkeep of structures. This leads to a blame game after the tragedy. Minutes after the building fell, the BMC said that the building was owned by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). The BMC said that they had earlier sent a notice to MHADA about the building. MHADA has denied owning the building. They said it was an illegal building and will investigate the matter. Such situations have become very common during the monsoons in Mumbai. The BMC and the government has to give an answer.
