FATAL ACCIDENTS IN DELHI AND SHANGHAI BUILDINGS

DELHI BUILDING COLLAPSE: 66 DEAD
SHANGHAI APARTMENT FIRE: KILLS 53

New Delhi - Sixty-six people died and at least 80 others were injured as a five-storey residential building collapsed in Lalita Park in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area on Monday evening. More than 30 people are believed to be still trapped under the rubble. According to eyewitnesses, at least 400-500 people were staying in the building which collapsed at 8 pm on Monday. The injured have been admitted to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash, Lalbahadur Shastri and Hedgewar hospitals. A special team of doctors has been assigned to treat the injured at all the three hospitals. According to Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia, at least 20 ambulances have been pressed into action to carry the injured to various hospitals. The Delhi government has said the foundation of the old building could have weakened due to the heavy monsoon rain this year when the water of river Yamuna flooded the area. Locals said some water was still there in the basement of the building.

Shanghai - The 28-story residential building that burned wildly on Monday, leaving 53 dead and 70 injured, had been wrapped in flammable nylon and bamboo scaffolding during renovations that included work by unlicensed welders. The news was disturbing across China, which is in the midst of a vast construction boom, but it particularly shook Shanghai, a city of high-rises. Sprinkler systems here are not required in residential buildings, according to construction experts, but firehoses can only reach a dozen or so stories. The leading edge and showpiece of the country’s building boom, Shanghai has scores of nylon-wrapped buildings under construction or undergoing renovations, and most of its 20 million people live in modern high-rises. Most of China’s big cities are in the midst of massive building booms as part of an urbanization drive that will reshape this nation over the next two decades. By then, most people in China will live in urban areas and a majority of those will live in high-rise apartment buildings.

Economic growth in China and India has transformed Shanghai and New Delhi into two of the world’s most heavily populated cities, with almost 35 million residents combined. These two accidents killed at least 119 people. In both incidents, there were lax safety rules and illegal construction, which is common in the fastest growing economies worldwide. Death is inevitable for everyone, rich or poor. In this material world we can not be freed from the cruel clutches of death; therefore, as soon as possible we should begin the process of returning home, back to Godhead, by the method prescribed for this age of Kali, which is the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

One who is intelligent understands that there is a great and supreme authority above everything. That great authority appears in different incarnations to save the innocent from disturbances. ... The King of the elephants decided to surrender unto Him. This is intelligent. One must know that great Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrender unto Him. ... We are always in danger because at any moment death can take place. It is not that only Gajendra, the King of the elephants, was afraid of death. Everyone should fear death because everyone is caught by the crocodile of eternal time and may die at any moment. The best course, therefore, is to seek shelter of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and be saved from the struggle for existence in this material world, in which one repeatedly takes birth and dies. To reach this understanding is the ultimate goal of life.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 8: “Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations”
Chapter 2: “The Elephant Gajendra’s Crisis” - Verse 33.
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 (Folio).