Building safety certificates sought from schools

Islamabad: The Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) has sought building safety certificates from private schools in the wake of Monday’s strong earthquake.
The tremors measuring 8.1 on Richter Scale caused no damage to public property in the city, there’re fears of aftershocks, a cause of concern for the people.
According to PEIRA Secretary Muhammad Javed Iqbal, privately-owned educational institutions are bound by the law to ensure that their buildings are not only adequate but also sound enough to house students.
He said after Monday’s earthquake, the PEIRA had directed all private schools functioning in the Islamabad Capital Territory to produce certificates of the soundness or safety of their respective buildings by November 2.
The PEIRA secretary said such certificates should be issued by only those engineers, who were certified or authorised by the Capital Development Authority.
The capital city has over 1,000 private schools, which are regulated by the PEIRA.