It felt like an earthquake, residents recount building collapse horror in Visakhapatnm

The collapse of a three-storeyed building at Ramajogipeta in Maharanipeta after March 23 (Wednesday) midnight, which claimed at least three lives and left five injured, left the residents of the area in shock. The residents of the adjacent buildings who woke up to a thud in the dead of the night put on brave faces and pulled out at least one person buried under the debris, before help from the government agencies arrived.

The collapse of a three-storeyed building at Ramajogipeta in Maharanipeta after March 23 (Wednesday) midnight, which claimed at least three lives and left five injured, left the residents of the area in shock.

The residents of the adjacent buildings who woke up to a thud in the dead of the night put on brave faces and pulled out at least one person buried under the debris, before help from the government agencies arrived.

“It is yet to sink in what we saw. We all were asleep and there was a thud. Yet to gather his bearing, my son shouted earthquake and we all ran out of our house. As I was running down the stairs, I saw the building crashing down. The area was engulfed in dust,” said a woman, who lives in a house besides the ill-fated building.

Some residents said they heard Rama Rao, a resident of the building, screaming for help and they managed to pull him out of the debris. Meanwhile, Fire Services Department officials, a 25-member team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and Revenue Officials arrived at the spot, with a team of police personnel in tow. They rescued Kalyani, Krishna, Roja Rani and few others.

Siva Shankar, who was living on the ground floor of the building had a miraculous escape. He came out to attend the call of the nature when the building collapsed. Even as he was stuck in some debris, he escaped with minor injuries, said an eye-witness.

The rescue teams put in a lot of effort in pulling out S. Anjali (15), her brother S. Durga Prasad (17), and Ramulush Shah alias Chotu (23), who were trapped in the debris. Anjali was rushed to the King Geroge Hospital (KGH) after CPR was performed on her. But, she succumbed to her injuries. Durga Prasad and Chotu were declared dead by the doctors by Thursday morning.

The residents nearby are yet to come to terms with the tragedy. “It is hard to believe. The building, though old, withstood many cyclonic storms including HudHud that hit the city in the recent years. The deaths of the two siblings are unfortunate. We just learnt that Anjali celebrated her birthday last night,” said S. Vasu, a resident of Ramajogipeta.