Noida: Why is demolishing Supertech twin towers a massive challenge?

Noida's Supertech Twin Towers will be demolished on Sunday, August 28, via a controlled explosion. The illegal structures are the tallest buildings to have been ever demolished in India-- the Supertech towers are taller than Delhi's Qutub Minar. Nearly 3,700 kilograms of explosives have been rigged into the building. The debris created by the demolition will take roughly three months to clear. Here's why demolishing the Noida towers is an exceedingly tough job. 

The CEO and managing director of Jet Demolitions, the company that has been entrusted with demolishing the building, Joe Brinkmann, said the task is difficult because the building was strongly built and the area lies in the seismic zone. 

The second challenge is that the building is located just nine meters from Emerald Court's Aster-2 apartment block. Any miscalculation can damage the legal building, jeopardizing the legal houses of hundreds of flat owners. 

Explaining how the company plans to bring down the illegal structures that had over 900 flats, he said with the progression of the blast, the buildings will be pulled away from Aster 2 towards the south and then collapse. 

Another challenge is to keep the projectiles emanating from the buildings. For that multiple layers of iron mash and blankets have been used. 

The most difficult situation would be if the explosion results in safety or health hazards. The Noida administration has made arrangements to deal with any eventuality. 

Besides government hospitals, three private hospitals have been prepped to deal with any health emergency. 

As a precaution, 5,000 residents of Emerald Court and ATS village -- the two adjacent societies-- will be evacuated on Sunday using 2,700 vehicles. Their pets will also be moved along with them. 

No human, vehicle or animal would be allowed inside the 500-meter exclusion zone except the technicians and workers carrying out the controlled explosion. 

Six ambulances will be stationed near the blast site to deal with medical emergencies. JP Hospital, Felix Hospital and Yatharth Hospital are on standby.

Dr Jais Lal will be the nodal officer for ambulance arrangements.