| October 31, 2005 | Monday | Ramzan 26, 1426 |
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Islamabad park
Safety of buildings
Training volunteers
Which dam site?
National College of Arts
Shanul Haq Haqqee
Re-naming avenues
Late payment surcharge
Diploma stipends
Budget adjustments
Victim’s’ identity
Earthquake exhibit
THE Association of Consulting Engineers (Pakistan) (ACEP), in association with the Karachi Building Control Authority, published in April 2000 guidelines for designing earthquake resistant structures entitled “Seismic zoning of Karachi and recommendations for seismic design of buildings”.
The preface to that publication clearly says that the uniform building code (UBC) classifies Karachi in seismic zone 4 which means that it is a region near active faults. However, considering the likely impact of knowledge about zone 4 classification on the public, the association after evaluation of the finding of a seismic committee, classified Karachi to be in zone 2B or in area of moderate earthquake intensity.
In this context, it may be useful to quote from the publication’s preface: “Karachi has the largest number of high and low-rise buildings and industrial structures including a nuclear power plant. The cost of construction of the buildings to withstand the most destructive forces of a zone 4 earthquake, or re-strengthening of the existing buildings, would be colossal and beyond the capacity of a developing nation. Moreover, the fear among people ... would have far reaching psychological consequences.”
It is expected that an elite body like ACEP would provide proper guidelines for safe and sound design of buildings and structures to the people of Karachi and encourage them to face the reality instead of underestimating the risk due to the reasons quoted above.
A previous publication by the now-defunct KDA had classified Karachi to be in an area in zone 2 A and areas in NWFP and around Islamabad in zone 2 B. The UBC 1997 also classifies Islamabad and Peshawar in zone 4. The earthquake of October 8, 2005 proved that the UBC classification for Islamabad was correct.
Karachi is located near the junction of the Indian and the Arabian plates. The city of Karachi is moving northward at a rate of 45mm/year according to a United States Geological Survey (USGS) specialist who gave an interview to CNN a few days back. According to the National Institute of Oceanography, the ground level of Karachi is rising upward at a rate of 3-4mm/year. This rising of the ground level is more pronounced near the Mekran coast where some areas are rising as much as 30-40mm/year. This is due to subduction of the Arabian plate under the Indian plate meaning that the former is diving under the latter.
Why not call a spade a spade and revise the city’s seismic classification to zone 4 according to UBC 1997 and design buildings accordingly? Or, do we continue to behave like ostriches burying our heads in the sand, ignoring the obvious reality?
MASUDUR REHMAN & MANSOOR MEHDI
Karachi
THE F-9 Park in Islamabad is perhaps the only area in this city which has so far escaped large-scale violation of the requirements of the Islamabad Master Plan and the CDA’s bylaws. This is not to say that no attempt has been made to spoil the park’s environment. Remember the set-up established there some years ago which spoiled the sanctity of the park?
Please bear in mind that public parks, safari parks, tropical forests, lakes, gardens, etc., like places of religious worship, all have a sanctity which all civilized persons are required to preserve.
However, the inhabitants of this city, being patient or helpless or both, have learned to live with this spoliation in the hope that the park would be spared any further ravages. It looks, however, that this hope is soon to be dashed as reports have appeared in the print media that the CDA has taken a decision to allow a food outlet to be set up in the park.
Earlier also the media had carried such reports but subsequently it was reported that the CDA had abandoned this plan. The reappearance of such reports in the press has caused concern.
At the cost of being dubbed a prophet of doom I would make an attempt, through these columns, to foretell as to how the scenario in this regard will unfold. The hue and cry being raised by the various NGOs and members of the civil society will notch up by a few decibels; the media will carry a few more reports on the wrong being done to the environment of Islamabad; perhaps there will be some photographs in papers showing persons carrying placards saying “Save F-9 Park”, “Islamabad’s environment in danger”, etc.; the CDA will clarify that safeguards needed to protect the park’s environment and preserve its essential character will be duly incorporated in the project before it is formally approved; gradually the hue and cry will subside, and reports in the press will disappear. What is destined to happen will happen, that is, the proposed food outlet would be set up in F-9 Park.
Perhaps it is our culture that those who have the necessary influence and clout are satisfied only after they have violated the prescribed law and rules.
KHALID IDREES
Islamabad
EARTHQUAKES are said to be unpredictable. However, Mr B.A. Malik’s letter (Oct 13) claims that the potential of the recent earthquake in the Islamabad area was actually predicted by the New York Times way back in 2001, including its intensity of 7.5 on the Richter scale.
The 1952 master plan for Karachi had mentioned such a seismic activity zone above Lahore and up to Karachi and recommended strict measures to ensure safety of buildings restricting their height to 13 stories, as in Los Angeles, USA.
It is now most essential to carefully check the safety of all buildings in Karachi, Islamabad and other areas susceptible to such seismic lateral stresses, exceeding 1/10th of the force of gravity, as recommended for Karachi or a higher standard that may since have been developed.
In view of the recent experience, it appears essential to re-examine the safety aspects of all highrise and other residential buildings in Karachi and other areas. If found wanting, effective measures must be taken to improve safety standards. If necessary, we may acquire the experience of other countries like Japan.
In any case, it would be advisable for all the building design approving authorities to issue strict instructions to all concerned to specify safety features, which should be cleared by qualified experts. The authorities should also recheck the qualification of all registered architects and structural engineers to avoid unqualified persons from dealing with this important aspect of public safety.
Special designs have to be quickly developed for the reconstruction of buildings in the areas flattened by the recent quake disaster.
S.M.H. RIZVI
Karachi
The Oct 8 earthquake and its gruesome aftermath have put into sharp focus the dire need for reviving the civil defence organization and its trained volunteer force. Our government and all these foreign governments and relief agencies which have so promptly and generously helped Pakistan in its hour of need deserve the nation’s gratitude for their laudable humanitarian services. The huge relief work and rehabilitation enterprise organized by our government has pinpointed the lack of trained volunteers for disaster relief operations and the infrastructure needed for their quick deployment in disaster-hit areas.
For this the government should build up and maintain a permanent Disaster Relief Organization on the pattern of the Civil Defence Organization of the 1960s under the federal ministry of interior. I remember being associated with its set-up in Karachi. Training of the volunteers in the context of new experiences gained in disaster relief work worldwide would now be essential. In the past, first aid, basic fire-fighting and rudimentary paramedical knowledge were considered essential for the training of volunteers for emergency relief work. The curriculum can be broadened, with emphasis on practical training and motivational grounding.
Pakistan’s armed forces should be intimately involved in the training and maintenance of this volunteer corps. In past students doing graduation in universities and colleges in the NWFP were required to do a couple of years of social service to qualify for the BA degree. This should be revived.
QUTUBUDDIN AZIZ
Karachi
THE Wapda chairman has stressed the inevitability of building mega reservoirs of water in view of depletion of the capacity of the existing dams which would lose 5.8 MAF storage capacity by 2010. Unless and until we build a dam by 2010, we would be in for a massive shortage of irrigation water.
Time is running out and every day counts but the recent earthquake has shown that the Bhasha dam is a risky venture as the site is located right on the fault line while the Kalabagh dam site is located about 140kms away from it, as pointed out by The Economist of Oct 15.
As such, common sense will dictate that for the present the Bhasha dam should be considered as out of the question.
We have already lost much time and waiting any further will expose us to a water scarcity of great dimension. As for the benefits from the Kalabagh dam, we are losing Rs160 million daily in the event of delay in construction.
Let us ponder over the continuing loss for a poor nation that needs every rupee to rehabilitate the earthquake victims and to stabilize the economy.
DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
AS someone who lived and studied at the National College of Arts in Lahore from 1980-81, I’d like hereby to extend my deepest sympathies to all quake victims, and I hope no such catastrophe will ever occur again.
There are many friends from that era whose whereabouts are no longer known to me. Some of them were students of the National College of Arts, including Syed Jemal Shah, Ejaz and Akram (NCA students). Reza Rehman was a salesman at a leading bookstore in Lahore. There was another friend, an attendant at a Lahore government hospital, who was very kind to me during my recovery after an accident. (His name unfortunately escapes me). There is also Mr Zahid Latif and Mr Qureshi in whose architectural firm I worked for a while, and colleagues Pervez and others who worked there. I hope all of them are safe.
I hope some of my Pakistani friends will write to me if they can.
GAMINI AKMEEMANA Colombo,
Sri Lanka
MS Ameena Saiyid (Oct 22), while generously praising my late father Shanul Haq Haqqee’s literary talents and achievements, “his magic wand of excellence” and the “spectacular results” it produced, has also referred to his penchant for perfection and, in particular, his “winning and impressive humility.” This was indeed an integral part of his personality, and he remained modest and self-effacing to the end. A recent small episode which brings this out is fresh in my mind and I am more than keen to share it with everyone who knew him:
At a wedding a few months ago, I had a chance meeting with Dr Aslam Farrukhi, himself an eminent scholar and linguist. During our conversation, he paid a warm compliment to my father, saying emphatically that there neither is, nor has been, a lexicographer of Haqqee’s calibre in the subcontinent.
I mentioned this meeting to my father in an email, quoting Dr Farrukhi’s exact words: “...ek baat aap hamesha yaad rakhie ga: Aap ke walid se bara lexicographer is Pak-o-Hind men na hai, aur na hua hai”. As I did not receive a reply about the subject, it receded somewhat in my mind. It was only six weeks ago, when he was ill in hospital in Toronto that I remembered and asked him during our telephone conversation whether he had received and seen that particular email. He said he had. Being conscious that another chance to talk to him about this might not even arise, I pressed him for a comment on Dr Farrukhi’s remark. He chuckled and said just these very words: “Vo, dar asl, baree mohabbat ke admi hain... vo to ye-hi kahenge, aur kya kahenge.”
Before writing this letter for Dawn, I called Dr Farrukhi and asked if he remembered his praise about my father’s lexicography, and I repeated his very words, including “...aur na hua hai”. He promptly said he remembered, but with great sadness added: “Aur na ab ho ga.” He much doubted that another lexicographer of that calibre was likely to come up, and went on to express his despair about the present state of our literature and the diminishing overall interest in linguistics and languages.
But I believe that so long as there are people like Ms Saiyid and Dr Farrukhi to appreciate literary talent, skills and scholarship, the prospects are not all that depressing.
SALMAN HAQ
Karachi
THE names of several major avenues flanking Islamabad’s sectors are being changed. This is unacceptable on at least two counts. One, a major fraction of the populace is averse to this practice and sticks to the original names - renaming of Margalla and Embassy roads is a case in point.
Two, equally important, these avenues were so named to serve a purpose. For example, just as 7th Avenue marks the end of the F-6 Sector to the west, the 11th Avenue signals the conclusion of the F-10 sector.
If the intention is to honour certain individuals, then new roads, buildings and parks can be named after them instead of changing original names, a practice many hold to be in bad taste.
NASIM SADIQ
Islamabad
I promptly paid the Sui Southern Gas Company’s bill for Sept which was delivered at my address on Oct 19, along with two more bills for houses in my neighbourhood (as if SSGC has appointed me an honorary courier for delivering the company’s bills to its customers).
SSGC’s bill distributor took as many as nine days to deliver the bill. No late delivery or non-delivery charges are imposed on the distributor. But the SSGC wants its customers to pay 25 per cent as late payment surcharge if the payment of the gas bill is delayed by even one day. Is this fair and legal? I was required to pay a late payment surcharge of Rs 30 on a bill of Rs 120.
Assuming a customer delays payment of his gas bill for one month and, consequently, has to pay a 25 per cent surcharge, under what norms of justice will the SSGC justify charging an interest of 25 per cent per month, or 300 per cent per year? Is it not usury of the worst form? Or is it simply extortion or bhatta? If it is a fine, does SSGC have legal authority to impose a fine on its customers?
SHAMEEM AHMAD
Customer No. 0619002780
Karachi
IN a press release (Dawn, May 12) the Sindh governor had clearly ordered payment of stipend to post-graduate training doctors and the emoluments of Rs6,210 per month for minor diploma and Rs10,000 per month to be paid to major diploma trainees. This was well appreciated.
Now Liaquat University of Medical Health and Sciences has advertised and invited applications for post-graduate training and they are charging heavy fees, i.e., Rs20,000 for major diploma and Rs12,000 for minor diploma. Is LUMHS an independent body and is the governor not the chancellor of the institution or is everybody working on their own without coordination? I will request the governor to look into this matter.
PROF ISHTIAQ AHMED KHAN
Karachi
TRADITIONALLY the federal budget has always been a bit of a farce. Besides, it always runs on a shoe-string and a prayer, depending on who is pulling the string. In the aftermath of the recent earthquake, there are apprehensions being voiced about adjustments in the name of rehabilitation work. Sadly the government has little credibility and nobody trusts any of its intentions or pronouncements.
Saddled with a 10-strong federal cabinet, top brass-heavy armed forces and free spending ways it is no wonder that there is nothing in the kitty for a rainy day. The begging bowls are out and impassioned pleas by all and sundry for international aid are building into a cacophony.
This will probably fall on deaf ears but I think a bit of austerity at the top is in order. Where is the need for top of the line latest limos and SUVS? Why do the president, the prime minister, governors and chief ministers live in homes which need enormous resources in upkeep?
The countless international visits by government functionaries are a terrible waste which drain desperately needed funds. Having travelled far and wide, our rulers must be aware that leaders of the richest nations in Europe live in modest homes/flats with no servants or pageantry; even constitutional monarchs are sensitive to public opinion when it comes to their personal lifestyle.
The public in Pakistan is becoming increasingly fed up with the insensitive ways of the ruling class. This is a fervent plea to them to heed the warning signs and mend their ways.
JAVED KHAN
Haripur Hazara
IT is suggested that every sufferer of the earthquake of Oct 8 should be registered and issued with a ‘Earthquake Victim Identity Card /Certificate’, by the government to establish his/her identity as an earthquake victim. This will facilitate the Government’s granting compensation and relief to genuine victims of the earthquake.
Otherwise thousands of undeserving people from these areas will come forward to claim compensation which might deprive the actual victims of their due besides overburdening the government.
SQN LDR (retd) S. AUSAF HUSAIN
Karachi
THE London Science Museum is showing an exhibition on “Building for Extremes” that deals with the issues of safety against earthquakes and hurricanes. Details of this are available on the following website: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitors/currentexhibitions.asp
I believe it will be very relevant to the situation in Pakistan.
KHALID A.
London, UK
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