How China demolished a 118-meter building in less than 15 seconds

On a beautiful Sunday morning in Xi’an, a city in the northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, something incredible was about to happen, a 118-meter building was about to be demolished. The building had 26 floors that was later reduced to zero in just 13 seconds.

“The operation worked quite well. For one thing the building collapsed in the correct direction and for another thing it fell down at a low height and was fully exploded. Both the noise and trembling of the demolition were under controllable range,” according to a statement by demolition expert Zhao Fuxin.

“A bar is located only seven meters away from the building and it hadn’t been affected at all. There wasn’t even a piece of stone dropping on the bar. I’m quite satisfied with the operation. It worked well,”

Ingenious Hippo Water Roller is improving access to water in Africa

In some rural parts of Africa, people, especially women and children spend up to 26% of their time fetching water for drinking and cooking, washing and other needs. The images of women carrying water jars on their heads are a traditional postcard of Africa, but these people, in addition to wasting a lot of time on this daily struggle, often suffer from long-term injuries due to the heavy load carried inappropriately.

Two African engineers have developed an invention that is changing this reality, and has been improving millions of lives since it was first established in 1994. The ‘Hippo Water Roller‘ is a simple device for carrying water more easily and efficiently. It consists of a barrel-shaped container which holds the water and can roll along the ground, and a handle attached to the axis of the barrel. The tank holds up to 90 liters, far more than a person can carry on their head. Furthermore, in a more complex model it counts with a pump and a filter to purify the water for drinking purposes.

Considering these families that need the water roller can’t really afford them, they are delivered through sponsors. According to the Hippo Water Roller Project, “approximately 46,000 sponsored Hippo rollers have been distributed in at least 20 countries directly benefiting at least 300,000 beneficiaries with an average of 7 per household.”