On Saturday morning, residents in the Maradu neighbourhood of Kochi woke up to the sound of explosions that destroyed two over 18-storey apartment buildings with almost 800 kilos of explosives.
Video footage of the buildings "H20 Holy Faith" and "Alpha Serene" being demolished soon began making the rounds on social networking platforms in India.
As part of the four lakeside towers that have been “sentenced to death” by the Indian Supreme Court, more than 350 flats will be destroyed and nearly 240 families will have to re-locate. The families have been given a compensatory allowance of $35,215 (Rs. 25 lakhs) each.
As a precaution, the gathering of crowds in the Maradu area of Kochi has been prohibited. In addition air, land, and water traffic in the area has also been suspended as a safety measure.
Temporary medical and relief centres have also been set up for residents and workers in the evacuation zone.
The remaining two buildings will meet the same fate on Sunday under a carefully controlled demolition process.
Netizens from the area who could see the collapse of the buildings from their windows and terraces have shared raw footage of the explosions on Twitter.