How do you level 19 buildings in the middle of a bustling city center all at once, without damaging infrastructure or putting lives at risk? Carefully, as the people of Wuhan, in central China, can attest.

“For this kind of large-scale blasting demolition conducted in the downtown area, we not only need to guarantee the demolition result, but also strictly control the adverse effects of blasting,” Jia Yongsheng, the man who was in charge of the operation over the weekend, told China’s CCTV.

He said the big bang went off without a hitch, which is no small feat given that his team had planted five tons of explosives in the buildings and brought them all to the ground in a matter of just 10 seconds.

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According to CCTV, the buildings were all very near to a commuter rail viaduct, residential buildings, a shopping mall, an electricity substation and other infrastructure.

“The demolition effect was quite ideal. The explosion didn’t affect the light rail and public facilities around the blasted buildings,” said Jia. “There was no damage and adverse effects of blasting.”