813 educational institutions’ buildings damaged in KP

PESHAWAR: As many as 813 buildings of educational institutions have been fully or partially damaged in nine districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the earthquake that jolted the country on Monday.
According to the data collected by the directorate of education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from the nine most affected districts of the province till 2pm on Tuesday, some 110 schools were fully and 703 partially damaged.
An official of the Education Department told The News that the partially damaged schools also included those that have developed mere cracks. Giving district-wise details of the initial data about the damaged schools, he said 16 schools were fully and 80 partially damaged in Swat, 15 fully and 19 partially destroyed in Chitral, eight fully and 19 partially damaged in Mansehra, 23 fully and nine partially destroyed in Shangla, 45 fully and 180 partially damaged in Upper Dir, two fully and 214 partially destroyed in Lower Dir and one fully and 54 partially damaged in Battagram. He added that 100 schools were partially damaged in Abbottabad and 29 in Peshawar.
He informed that this was initial data and will be verified properly after inspecting the educational institutions. Meanwhile, the administration of the affected districts in Malakand and Hazara divisions had announced public holiday on Tuesday. In Abbottabad, the educational institutions would remain closed today as well.
Director Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Mohammad Khalid told The News that they have not yet collected data of the damaged schools and colleges. “We have focused attention on human losses and house damages. We would contact the line departments to collect the data of the damaged government installations once the emergency is over,” he added.
However, he informed that there were no confirmed report of any human losses in schools and colleges due to the earthquake. He said that the earthquake occurred when the schools had closed down for the day.
PDMA’s Mohammad Khalid said that some 2,092 houses were fully and partially damaged due to the tremor in different districts of the province. Meanwhile, there were also reports of damages to 1,700 houses in Bajaur Agency, which was the worst affected in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). As many as 22 people were also killed in Bajaur due to the earthquake.
Reached on telephone for comments, deputy commissioner Battagram Zariful Maani told The News that he announced closure of the educational institutions in view of report about the aftershocks. He said the private schools in the district had already announced holiday, which prompted the district administration to declare Tuesday as day-off.
He said Battagram had suffered a deadly earthquake in 2005 and its severe aftershocks had continued for several days. “In view of the huge damage caused by the previous earthquake, we declared holiday this time to prevent losses as any incident at a school might be catastrophic.
He informed that the roads in the district were clear and open to traffic. “Landsliding in the district towards Shangla had caused blockade of the road, but it was quickly cleared,” he added.