India, Oct. 1 -- Four families of the idyllic P&T Colony in Sahar, Andheri, had a narrow escape on Tuesday morning when the protection slab over their balconies came crashing down and the debris showered down on the balconies, homes and in front of the building. The timing saved them all.

"I was spared by sheer luck," said Seema Kale, a resident of one of the two top floor rooms in the ground-plus-one storey building numbered B-3. "When the protective slab started to break, I heard the crack of the glass window in our stairwell. Thinking that someone had thrown a rock at the building, I went to take a look from the terrace. If I had gone instead to our balcony, I would have been crushed by the downpour of debris I saw from above."

The o...