Razing the Supertech twin towers in Noida made your ‘stomach crunch up’ but the entire experience was both ‘thrilling’ and ‘great,’ said the chief of the South African company that was roped in for the demolition.
“I prayed for a safe outcome and at this stage I feel higher beings help you do your work. I feel they have already helped me as much as they can and I ask for extra blessings to help tip the scales,” Joe Brinkmann, CEO and managing director of Jet Demolition, known as Uncle Joe to his team members, told Moneycontrol a day after the towers were demolished.
The twin towers were brought down on August 28 after the Supreme Court ruled last year that they were illegally constructed. Edifice Engineering, the Mumbai-based company contracted for the task, selected Jet Demolitions as its partner.
The entire exercise “is thrilling, it is exciting, it makes your stomach crunch up, mixed emotions but it is a thrilling experience. That was the strongest emotion,” he said.
Brinkmann said the day of the demolition was “an intense day. Emotions were high. There was a lot of mental and physical effort.”
Asked for his first reaction after the blast, the 62-year-old ‘master blaster’ said it was one of gratitude.
“It has been an incredible experience and was done the right way. It lasted 12 seconds from start to finish. It was an intense day and emotions were high. My first thought: ‘Thank you, God!’” he said.
He told reporters on August 28 that the main concern was always public safety and making sure the buildings were razed safely, without damaging the surrounding properties. Everything was designed keeping safety in mind.
“Our foremost aim was that no one should be hurt. There is no damage from the implosion because we designed it that way,” he said. “We used the controlled implosion method to direct the collapse in a controlled manner. It was like a waterfall sweeping through the building. Each implosion is different and depends on the circumstance and the surrounding areas of the blast.”
Asked how he would describe the blast in one word, he said, “Great!”
Brinkmann is Uncle Joe to his colleagues. He said that in South Africa, where there are several Dutch descendants, you refer to someone older than you as uncle.
“They respectfully refer to me as oum, or uncle,” he said.
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