Buildings in federal capital develop cracks

Islamabad
An intensity earthquake which other parts of the country also jolted the twin cities, caused cracks in a number of commercial and residential buildings of the federal capital.
The CDA sources told ‘The News’ that so far the civic body had received reports of serious cracks appearing in three high-rise buildings including two buildings in sector E-11 and one building in sector G-11.
As a precautionary, the management of a high-rise building of a luxury flats in F-10 got the apartments vacated from residents following appearance of cracks in the structure. However, the sources said that the damage to the building is not so serious which could threaten its structure.
The occupants of some other high-rise residential buildings who are under panic, have also shifted to residences of their relatives.
This correspondent tried to contact Director Building Control Section (BCS) Zahid Sultan to get the correct picture but he was not available on his cell phone despite time and again attempts.
However, a senior official of CDA said the top management has directed for setting up teams comprising officials from BCS and other wings of the authority. “The teams have been directed to carry out survey of commercial and residential particularly the high-rise structure suffering any damage due to earthquake,” the official said.
The sources said that some cracks also appeared in small structure of the Directorate of Municipal Administration containing Birth and Death Certificates section.
According to reports, cracks appeared in buildings in Blue Area, and the high rise buildings were evacuated by the local administration.
It is worth-mentioning here that the CDA and Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) needed to conduct building audit of buildings of schools and colleges which are over 40-year. “ The structure of buildings and particularly the boundary walls of various educational institutions are in poor condition and require extensive repair work,” an official of FDE requesting not to be named said.
The official said the thousands of students enrolled in schools survived a wave of panic as the high intensity quake jolted buildings just nine minutes after the closing time which is 2 pm. “By the time, the tremor started, the majority of students had come out of schools buildings,” the official said.