Imminent disasters

The 7.1 magnitude earthquake which jolted parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab on Sunday afternoon created panic across the country as people vacated residential and office buildings for the duration of the quake. Memories of the more devastating earthquake in October 2015, six months ago, had increased the fear. Tragedy did strike the families of the six people who died in KP and Gilgit-Baltistan but major damage was avoided. It was the relative depth of the quake, at around 236 kilometres, that prevented this from becoming a more serious calamity. While people may have survived the current earthquake, a fear of earthquakes has set in throughout the country. Medium-range quakes have continued to be felt every month since the October earthquake, suggesting that the entire region has become very earthquake prone. Pakistan needs to adjust their building standards and upgrade relief facilities based on this new reality.

Tremors emanating from the Hindu Kush range are becoming a norm in the region as the plates underneath the mountains are undergoing a period of major instability. Only a few days earlier, experts claimed that the collisions between the Indian and Eurasian plates could cause major changes in the topography of the region, and Islamabad could be one of the cities that could be hit. On Friday, four earthquakes between 3.35 and 5.3 on the Richter Scale were recorded. Only last year, the Pakistan Meteorological Department recorded around 851 seismic disturbances. This analysis is bad news for the people of the region, especially Pakistan, as a major earthquake could strike at any moment. We have reiterated many times that preparedness for any natural disaster of such proportions is low in the country. This can be seen in the inability of the government to be able to deliver much needed aid to the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which is experiencing an unusual bout of heavy rains, in a whole week. But the real earthquake preparedness, something which should have started after the earthquake of 2005 which killed over 80,000 people, has not gotten anywhere. What is needed is to increase building standards throughout the country. Right now, when many buildings in the country are unable to withstand heavy rains, what is to be said of their ability to repel earthquakes? Some of the world’s major earthquake zones, such as Japan, have managed to increase building standards to a point where they can resist earthquakes. The technologies have been available for decades. The problem is one of will, which simply does not exist in Pakistan. Little damage should not be a cause for celebration, but an opportunity for emergency action now.