Pakistan falls in a seismically active zone

Islamabad
A national seminar titled ‘School Safety’ was organised by Plan International Pakistan and Focus Humanitarian Assistance here, says a press release.
Pakistan falls in a seismically active zone with more than 50 per cent of the population living in high seismic activity area. Additionally Pakistan is also susceptible to floods during the monsoon season. But unfortunately, despite being a disaster prone country, most school buildings and educational institutions do not comply with safety standards to guard against natural disasters.
Although tsunamis, cyclones, floods and earthquakes are identified as some of the key hazards for Pakistan in the national disaster risk management framework, little has been done to make schools safer.
Farrah Naz, country programme manager (Strategy), Plan International Pakistan, said: “School safety, although a new concept in Pakistan, needs to be treated as an urgent priority. The safety of school children and staff simply cannot be ignored.”
Speaking on the occasion, Imran Yusuf Shami, country programme manager (Implementation), Plan International Pakistan said: “Children are the most valuable asset and are amongst the most vulnerable segments of society. Destruction caused by natural hazards in the past years reminds us of insufficient progress towards safer schools.”
The 2005 earthquake left a lasting impact on education system, leaving over 17,000 students and 900 teachers dead at school, and 50,000 seriously injured. Many survivors were disabled and 10,000 school buildings were destroyed. In all, 300,000 children were affected. In some districts 80% of schools were destroyed.
Severe flooding in 2007 displaced over 300,000 people and affected more than 2.5 million people. Whereas the super floods of 2010 caused severe damage to more than 10,000 schools across Pakistan, impacting the education of 3.5 million children.
Similarly, the 2011 floods in Sindh also caused severe damage to approximately 60% of public schools resulting in a drastic decline in the attendance rate of children between the ages of 5 and 17, particularly among girls.