Hafeezur Rehman Butt, Chairman, Association of Builders and Developers (Abad) gave this candid message while talking to Business Recorder on Tuesday.
He said that Karachi is a mega city and construction of buildings should have careful planning and structural soundness. "The earthquake devastation in Pakistan has given us ample opportunity and the need to start buildings according to specifications set out by the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) has become obligatory."
He said that earthquakes in Iran, Turkey and China in the 70s invoked attention of the authorities to take action according to seismological standing of the cities. In 1981 Karachi was put in Zone 2 which has the possibility of earthquakes of 5.0 to 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale. KBCA had specified this zoning criterion for designing of earthquake-resistant buildings and other structures in the Karachi region. In 2000, Karachi was put in Zone 2-B that has possible magnitude of 6.5 on Richter scale. KBCA upgraded its specification accordingly to safeguard the life and property of the citizens of Karachi.
Butt said that the concern about Karachi buildings was genuine and added that the citizens of the city were constructing buildings according to specifications and there was no cause of unnecessary alarm. He advised apartment owners to maintain their apartments in a proper manner. He said that the owners indulge in such practice which amount to negligence of safety steps. Many owners keep iron tanks in their apartments to store water for use in water emergencies. When water is stored in large tanks, its weight is in tons. This weight is not taken into consideration while building these apartments. It puts extra weight on the foundation, "a dangerous situation, indeed".
The other neglected area is leakage of water that seeps into the walls and reaches the iron rods which are rusted. It induces the decay and weakness to the building.
He agreed that the collapse of Margalla Towers in Islamabad was sad, but questioned the destruction of countless building structures in Muzaffarabad. The Presidency in Muzaffarabad was one of the numerous buildings that had collapsed. Nobody has pointed a finger towards the builders of such buildings because these were not built by the private sector.
According to him, some experts are of the opinion that Karachi is in high-risk seismic zone and should be put in Zone 4. He thought that the cost of houses would rocket high above the reach of ordinary people. It was not difficult to build houses as in Japan, California, USA and in other developed countries, but their cost would make them 'utopias' for lower and middle income groups.
It may be recalled that a book titled 'Seismic Zoning of Karachi and Recommendations For Seismic Design of Buildings' was published by Association of Consulting Engineers, Pakistan (ACEP), in association with Karachi Building Control Authority (KCBA) in April 2000. It was jointly authored by A Razzak Loya, a Consulting Engineer; Professor Dr Nayyer Alam Zaigham of the University of Karachi, and Mushtaq A Dawood, Consulting Engineer. The book is invaluable in disseminating knowledge about Seismology and Karachi Seismic Zone, building specifications and other relevant information. But the implementation is wanted in the city building structures.
There is a lot of hue and cry in the aftermath of the earthquake tragedy. The talk of crisis management is everywhere but there is no combined effort to tackle this important aspect.
There should be a national roundtable conference of experts associated with Geology, Seismology, Building Control Authorities, Meteorological Department, and Geological Survey of Pakistan and others.
There should be a national consensus on the design and standard of buildings. All these steps should be taken with the highest sincerity and keeping the national interest at the forefront of actions. That could prepare all for future catastrophes and save millions of lives and billions of rupees in the country.