Shoddy homes worsen Pakistan earthquake
damage
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -
Shoddy building construction, old housing and lax oversight leave Pakistan
especially vulnerable to deadly earthquakes, experts in disasters and
architecture say, and likely exacerbated damage from a tremor that killed at
least 37 people.
The 5.8 magnitude
earthquake levelled houses, shops and other buildings, and injured around 500
people on Tuesday near Mirpur, in Pakistan’s portion of the disputed Kashmir
territory.
Most of the deaths and
injuries were caused by old village houses collapsing, said Sardar Gulfaraz
Khan, the deputy inspector general of police for Mirpur district.
Among them was the son
of Mohamad Zaman, who hurried home from his job as a rickshaw driver after the
earthquake struck to hear that 12-year-old Afzal had been hit by a falling
wall, suffering a head injury.
“There are lots of old
homes so apparently the damage is done due to those,” Zaman told Reuters at a
hospital in Mirpur, where his son was being treated.
The few new homes in
the district, built with stronger structures, all survived, he said.
A 2005 earthquake that
devastated much of Kashmir and killed more than 80,000 people prompted an
update to Pakistan’s building code to make rebuilt houses safer.
But 14 years on, some
say complacency has set in, in a country crossed by geological fault lines.
“Disasters happen and
the people have to just look after themselves because the institutions are not
strong enough,” said architect Arif Hasan, referring to local authorities who
enforce standards. “We don’t have the teeth or the finances to do it.”
Rapid urbanization in
Pakistan has meant housing has been quickly built to keep up with demand, said
Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center
think-tank.
“It all becomes quite
unregulated, inefficient, and ultimately dangerous,” he said.
Chaudhry Tariq Farooq,
Pakistani Kashmir’s minister for physical planning and housing, said there have
indeed been lapses in enforcement of building codes.
“Since our territory
sits on fault lines that become active every now and then, we will have to, and
we will, take harsh measures for implementation of building codes in letter and
in spirit,” he said.
Homes built with
bricks or concrete blocks are particularly vulnerable, because each building
unit shifts independently in an earthquake, said retired architecture professor
Yasmin Cheema.
Even among new houses,
a dangerous construction model of unreinforced masonry with no involvement from
a structural engineer is widespread in Pakistan’s towns and cities, according
to Muhammad Masood Rafi, the head of NED University’s earthquake engineering
department. He is organising a team of engineering students and experts to
travel to Mirpur and investigate the situation.
“These are very
vulnerable buildings and they face the chance of damage and destruction when
they are subjected to unusual forces,” he said by telephone from Karachi.
In a country where a
quarter of the population lives below the poverty line, Rafi said the poor bore
almost the entire brunt of badly constructed buildings.
“Mostly, only the poor
are affected by the disasters, not the rich,” he said.
Reporting by Rod Nickel
and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; additional reporting by Abu Arqam Naqash
in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan and Akhtar Soomro and Salahuddin in Mirpur, Pakistan;
Editing by Alex Richardson
Publish in https://uk.reuters.com 26 September 2019