Timely intervention saved lives

The building crashed 10 minutes after the residents were evacuated

K. Lakshmi lived on the first floor of the collapsed building of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board tenements at Tiruvottiyur. She cannot believe what had happened in the morning. “It feels like a miracle, as if the building had waited for us to get out and collapsed immediately,” she said.

According to eyewitness accounts, the left wing of the building that had 24 housing units on four floors and four tenements of the right wing that shared walls with the left wing collapsed minutes after the residents evacuated. Board officials said no one was reported missing, and everyone came out before the building came down.

The “miraculous” escape, as many residents called the turn of events, was largely due to the intervention of T.M. Thaniyarasu, a former Councillor of the erstwhile Tiruvottiyur municipality. Minor cracks, which had developed over the past few days, widened on Sunday night. But the residents said they did not panic. We were used to seeing cracks and plaster falling off. Hence, we did not feel the need to evacuate,” said R. Lakshmi.