New Delhi: As heavy rains lashed the city of Mumbai, several died and many more were trapped in the debris after a five-floor building collapsed in Dongri, South Mumbai, on Thursday morning. The dilapidated building they lived in was categorised as “most dangerous” by local authorities is said to be 125-year-old.
The Dongri incident was the latest in a series of deadly building collapses in the city of Mumbai over the years. On July 25, as many as 17 people died in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar building collapse when a four-storeyed residential building collapsed at L.B.S. Marg, near Shreyas cinema. On August 26, one person was killed and at least two suffered serious injuries when a building collapsed during a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation demolition drive in Mumbai’s Chandivali area.
Collapsing of residential structures during monsoon is a regular feature in the ‘maximum city’. Reports often point at poor maintenance of old buildings the main cause of the collapses.
Earlier, as part of its pre-monsoon preparedness, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had identified 791 buildings in the C-1 category — the most dangerous. Of these, BMC had demolished 186 (23%) buildings and evacuated 117 (14%).
The data collated by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB )in its annual report ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’ lists building collapse deaths under various un-natural causes of death.
Between 2010 and 2014, a total of 13,473 cases of structural collapse were reported across India, which led to the deaths of some 13,178 people, according to NCRB. Of this, 4,914 died when residential buildings collapsed, while 1,614 were crushed under commercial buildings.
According to the NCRB data on collapse of structures from 2010 to 2014, a total 37.3% of the total deaths were due to the collapse of residential buildings. Collapse of Dams & Bridges accounted for 3.2% of all the deaths. The highest number of deaths was because of the collapse of other structures like flyovers etc.
In the case of buildings and houses, most accidents tend to occur in populated cities and towns. The main reason of these collapses is because of dense living conditions that result in higher casualties during any structural collapse. In Mumbai alone, there are reports of a major structural collapses every few weeks. The numbers rise during the rainy season.
But Mumbai isn’t the only city where structural collapses result in deaths. Most such deaths take place in the bigger states. The data provided by the NCRB shows that the highest number of such deaths took place in Uttar Pradesh. From 2010 to 2014, 2065 people lost their lives in the state due to collapse of structures. 1343 lost their lives in Maharashtra followed by 1330 in Andhra Pradesh, 1176 in Madhya Pradesh, 1154 in Tamil Nadu and 1067 in Gujarat.
The only exception to that trend was West Bengal where a total of 184 deaths were registered under structural collapses from 2010 to 2014.
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