Mumbai Collapsing ?
Another building collapses in Mumbai. Authorities say it was 100 years old. Are you kidding me ?
So, if i am buying a house today in Mumbai at 25, i should be rest assured that my future generations will die in a building collapse, unless they plan to buy another one sooner. Even in which case, there will be someone else who will take the toll, because the construction date won't change with the change in title. And the authorities can proudly say it was a decade older. Welcome to Mumbai administration and its struggling infrastructural domain.
Now, just to give you a little background of what we are discussing here, let me put up a few stories in front of you. And mind you, these are all real.
In July 2010, a four-story building (age unknown) collapsed in Kurla area of Mumbai city. A six year old child was killed and atleast seven others were injured. (India Today)
In September 2013, a five-story building (32 years old) collapsed in Mazegaon area of Mumbai city. Atleast 61 people died and 32 were injured in the disaster. The collapse occurred after a mezzanine floor was built without permission in an office-warehouse on the ground floor of the building. (Wikipedia)
In August 2016, a three-story building (age unknown) collapsed in Kamathipura area of Mumbai city. 8 people died and many other were injured. The building was categorized as 'most dangerous.'
This was right after a colonial-era bridge got washed away in floodwaters in the town of Mahad, just two weeks ago, killing 22 people, while another Mumbai residential complex collapsed, killing 8 persons. (Quartz India, TOI)
In August 2017, a five-story building (117 years old) collapsed in Bhendi Bazar area of South Mumbai. More than 30 people died and many were injured. Experts indicated that waterlogging may have made the foundation of the building weaker; heavy rains combined with strong winds may have worsened the health of the building. (First Post)
In July 2018, an overbridge collapsed in Andheri area of Mumbai city. 2 people were dead. Heavy rains were suspected as the cause for the collapse. (Wikipedia)
In March of this year, a foot-over bridge came crashing down at the northern end of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. 6 commuters were killed and more than 30 people sustained injuries. A safety audit last year declared the bridge safe. (TOI)
This is besides numerous other incidents that do not come to limelight. Between 2010 and 2015, up to 1,366 incidents of house collapsing were reported from Mumbai alone.
About 1830 structural collapses were reported from Mumbai in 2015 alone, the latest year for which data is available from National Crime Records Bureau.
In July 2019, just two weeks ago, a four-story building (100 years old) collapsed in south Mumbai's crowded Dongri area. Atleast 13 people died and several were injured. Some news agencies have reported it was not on the list of dilapidated buildings in Mumbai prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). While others speak of it as being marked "C1 Building" which means it was marked for evacuation and demolition after a safety audit. Yet no authority, no agency, no company who was handed over the task to rebuild it, took any action. And the building collapsed with people in it. (India Today, NDTV)
Are we glaring at a loophole in the functioning of the local authorities in Mumbai; or are the monsoon rains that pore heavily, to the extent flooding the city every year, to blame for these collapses; or even yet, we have the audacity to shift the blame on private contractors who have been handed over the task of rebuilding the life threatening structures ?
No one will answer. Atleast don't expect an answer from mother nature. She is already a victim of excessive human excavation; rather be sure of more to come from this side.
Not only structural collapses, there have been so many incidents of fire and stampede, only resulting in people dying - 'more casualties than safe rescue.'
In September 2017, a stampede broke out on a railway bridge at Elphinstone station bridge (a foot over-bridge linking two of the busiest stations in Mumbai -- Elphinstone Road and Parel Suburban Stations) during peak office hours where 22 people were killed and over 30 were seriously injured. A more than expected crowd and heavy rains at the same time made the situation worse, where a few slipped, leading to the tragedy. Witnesses said there were rumours of the old bridge collapsing which caused panic and chaos. (NDTV)
Official data shows that over 30% of the city's buildings audited by the fire department are unsafe. And over 14,000 buildings that are over 50 years old are at risk of collapse, due to either age-related instability or a lack of proper maintenance. Haphazard planning has also made Mumbai vulnerable to natural and man-made calamities, experts say. For example, poor planning has been exacerbated by a lack of coordination among various government agencies. At present, nine agencies — including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the nation's richest municipal body — have a say in the city's administration and development. (DW)
City's old and new infrastructure looks vulnerable. Too many of these buildings do not have proper evacuation plans. Also by allowing cities to grow vertically, the available infrastructure may be exploited beyond its capacity. This is not just a challenge for the fire service, it is a challenge from many other perspectives - like ambient air quality management, water management, drainage and sewage management, traffic management. (BS)
And how can we forget Mumbai's traffic. With 510 cars per kilometre, the most in the country, Mumbai reported the world's worst traffic flow, as per a 2018 traffic index - that assessed 403 cities in 56 countries.
So, is it also a case of improper city planning !
And this is when we are talking about Mumbai alone. God help us with numbers from whole of India. Let me know if you want me to share those as well. Phew !
So, what do we do. This will keep getting worse. Because the people dying are so poor, that they don't have a voice against any one, least we talk about governmental organizations.
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