For Vipin Saji, an Indian national based in Sharjah, a weekend turned into a harrowing experience when someone decided to throw a medal out of their apartment’s window. Saji’s mother, who was waiting for him at the entrance of their residential building, was struck by this medal, which resulted in a skull fracture.
He told Gulf News: “I stay in the Buhaira Corniche area and parking is always an issue. So, I usually drop my parents and wife outside the building and then look for a spot. On that day, when I returned from parking my car, I saw a huge crowd had gathered outside my building. I then saw my mum lying down and her head was bleeding badly.”
At first, he assumed that she had fallen due to low blood pressure, something that has happened before. But, when he got to her, she was responsive and unaware of what had happened. The security officer then informed him that an object had fallen from the building and struck her. After he had rushed her to the hospital, the security officer found the object — a round medal seemed quite heavy.
The first 10 floors in the building are dedicated to parking, with residences starting at the 11th floor. According to the US-based Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), the average height of just one storey in a residential building is 3.1 metres, with the lobby’s average height standing at 4.65 metres. Judging by this, the object had fallen from more than 35 metres above ground level and could have impacted at a speed of up to 90km/h.
Saji said: “My mother is 53 years old, and I have never seen her resting in her life. Now, even to go to the washroom, she needs my wife’s help. After this incident, many people called me and shared their experiences of being struck by objects, too.”
Even though he will never know who is responsible for his mother’s condition, he hopes that through her story, people will become more aware of the consequences of their and their children’s actions. “After reading this, even if one person stops to think before throwing something out the window, it would make a big difference,” he added.
Objects falling from high-rises are a serious concern. According to the US-based Bureau of Labour Statistics, one injury is caused by a dropped object every 10 minutes in the US alone. Even hard hats worn by construction workers are of little help when an object falls from that height.
Sumoj Gopinath, a senior accountant based in Dubai, has also had a bad experience with someone throwing a glass bottle out of their apartment’s balcony in the Al Nahda area, Sharjah. He says they had a close escape, with the bottle landing on his wife’s foot, shattering and only causing minor injuries.
He said: “We were walking on the pavement next to the building and it was quite early in the day, with not many people around. The bottle was thrown out of one of the apartments. My wife had a few cuts and bruises and when we looked up to see who had thrown it, it was hard to identify where it came from. We couldn’t see any people standing in their balconies.”
He has seen a lot of rubbish being tossed out of balconies and windows in residential buildings. Once, used diapers were tossed onto his car. “Thankfully they did not fall on me,” he exclaimed.
Rinky Vasudev, a homemaker based in Sharjah, goes for a walk every evening with her one-year-old child. As a resident of Sharjah, she opts to walk in the Al Qasba area, which is primarily residential with a commercial complex at its core. As she was about to cross the road, a book suddenly landed at her feet.
She said: “It was a heavy book and startled me as it fell with a loud thud. When I looked up, I saw some paper flying around. Suddenly, I noticed someone intentionally throwing books out of a window. The person must have thrown at least 12 books one after the other.”
With her toddler in hand, her concern was that one of the books might injure her child. Additionally, there were a lot of other people sitting and walking in the area, young children were playing and several cars were parked, too.
Since then, she makes sure she doesn’t walk through narrow lanes between buildings because “you don’t know what will fall from the windows”.
Another common item that a lot of people throw from balconies is lit cigarette butts. This is a fire hazard. In January 2012, a fire broke out in a residential tower in Sharjah and displaced up to 125 families. The cause of the fire was a lit cigarette that was thrown off the balcony from an upper floor and landed on the balcony on the first floor, as reported in Gulf News.
Sangeetha Bhaskaran, a homemaker based in Dubai, has come across a lot of people throwing cigarette butts from their homes. To her, this is a nuisance, but a bigger concern is that of construction sites not managing their tools properly. A few days ago, she was walking past a site in Ajman when multiple sheets of metal fell through the scaffolding and landed a few inches away from her.
She said: “If I was walking a little faster, these sheets would have fallen on me. What do we do if something like this happens? Most people are clueless! I complained to the foreman, but it was of no use.”
As she was in a rush, she carried on with her tasks. But, is now extra careful around construction sites.
