Two dead and five injured as house collapses during heavy rain in Hyderabad

A house in Hussaini Alam of Old City Hyderabad collapsed during a spell of heavy rain in the city on Sunday, leaving two persons of a seven-member family dead. Five other members of the family sustained injuries when the house at Moosa Bowli collapsed around 12:30 noon.

A family member who survived first saw a slab fall inside the kitchen and within seconds, the entire roof of the single-storey house collapsed. All seven members of the family were inside the house at the time, and were trapped under the rubble.

The two persons who died have been identified as Farah Begum (24) and Anees Begum (18). The five persons who were rescued have been identified as Haji Mohammed Khan (54), Parveen Begum (42), Azmath Khan (28), Hussain Khan (2), Hussain Khan (a four-month-old infant). They were shifted to Osmania General hospital for treatment.

It took an hour for the Disaster Response Force (DRF) of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to move the rubble and rescue the residents of the house. Authorities brought an earthmover to demolish to the rest of the building after the incident and remove the rubble.

Ramesh Kotwal, the station house officer of Hussaini Alam, told the Times of India that the building was decades old. According to the report, GHMC zonal commissioner Ashok Samrat said that the family had refused to move from the old building despite being served notices, and that most of the dilapidated buildings were demolished.

The AIMIM MLA for the locality, Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, and local leaders from the  Bhartiya Janata Party Minority Morcha (BJPMM) and Telugu Desam Party’s minority cell (TDPMC) blamed the GHMC officials for not doing enough to move families from old buildings ahead of the rainy season. The parties demanded Rs 20 lakh compensation for the family of the two deceased.

The GHMC, in the aftermath of the incident, has announced that they will create an action plan to remove weak structures and said there are about 518 dilapidated buildings, of which about 337 were identified in 2019, and about 181 of those buildings are in danger of collapsing.

Officials informed that about 121 buildings were demolished since last year and that 89 buildings were restored by the owners after making structural changes, reported The New Indian Express.