| November 1, 2005 | Tuesday | Ramzan 27, 1426 |
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‘Other ironies of life’
‘Slow foxtrot with India’
Gas policy
Opposition statements
Choosing the right dam
Cricket rights
Overly critical?
Politicians & relief effort
Army’s role
SEVERE winter and snow are only a month away and the proposed tent cities as planned by several philanthropists may, perhaps, not provide sufficient protection against the elements. I came across a design option which can also be considered keeping in view time and other constraints.
In Turkey, after the 1970 Gediz earthquake, 405 polyurethane domes donated by a German chemical company were used to house the victims for several years before permanent housing could be built. Akcaalan, a small town with a population of just over 2,000 people, was devastated in the morning by the earthquake and a resulting fire. Half the population was killed and almost all the houses made uninhabitable.
A German chemical company flew in materials and technicians two days after the quake to start producing spun polyurethane domes on site. Within a month, 405 domes were produced and distributed; one to each family. All the crew, chemicals and machinery came from Germany. It is said that the total load did not exceed the capacity of one cargo plane. Production was carried out in a simple canvas shelter supported by steel posts and light trusses spanning a distance large enough to accommodate the five-metre spinning wheels. Two chemical components, polyurethane and isostynath, and the catalysts were mixed together at the nozzle of the gun.
The operator sprayed a dome and left it to set, giving it a hard and lightweight granular structure with a thickness of around 12 centimetres. The dome took between 25 and 30 minutes to harden. The bottom edge of the dome was thickened to 30 centimetre. Its door was an elliptical opening and the windows were circular, both made by using a thin wooden saw.
The foam domes provided shelter quickly and allowed government agencies a chance to consider more carefully permanent housing for the displaced people, unlike their usual approach of immediately rebuilding houses. Now that we have considerable aid in the president’s relief fund, the government should get in touch with the German embassy and ask them to collaborate on this idea. The government should ask for several on-site production plants near the devastated villages and start producing domes. These can then be handed over to those families who refuse to leave their homes — as has recently been reported.
The domes can be lived in for quite some time, especially in winter because they have good insulation properties. Some drawbacks will have to be worked out before handing over the domes to the people and these relate to ventilation and provision of skylights. In summer the domes can become hot inside because the door and windows are small; otherwise they comprise an excellent solution for temporary rehabilitation.
A good contact could be Mr. Suha Ozkan, a Turkish architect, who is at present working with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture as a consultant. He has presented his survey on post-disaster shelters in Europe and the US and has experimented in the design of similar shelters in Turkey.
DANISH AZAR ZUBY
Karachi
IN his column, “Other ironies of life” (Oct 9), Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee has referred to the Kashmir problem as the “old rotting core issue” and contends that it is wrong to say it is “foremost in the core of the hearts of the majority (of Pakistanis)”.
A look at the Urdu dailies of Pakistan, which are more reflective of the feelings of our ordinary citizens who constitute about 98 per cent of the population, will reveal to him that Kashmir is very much a matter of concern for them.
It is largely the tiny secular-minded elite that has, in keeping with the western thinking after 9/11, started to view the Kashmiri freedom struggle (and other causes linked to the Islamic character of the nation) as an unwanted nuisance and tried to build up public sentiment against it in various ways. Even in the English-language newspapers, the majority of writers and correspondents support the Kashmiris.
Mr Cowasjee never tires of quoting the Quaid-i-Azam’s speech of Aug 11, 1948 to try to prove that Pakistan should have a secular form of governance but conveniently forgets that the same Quaid had termed Kashmir as the jugular vein of the country.
The writer should also note that Kashmiris aren’t the only people fighting against India. The struggle for Nagaland is another old issue. Even Bertrand Russell had slammed India for using double standards when dealing with the rights of the Kashmiris and the Nagas.
The South Asian hegemon’s blatant disregard for human rights is further evidenced by about a dozen other insurgencies being waged over there by oppressed people, apart from its illegal occupation of several other territories besides Kashmir, including Junagadh, Hyderabad, Goa and Sikkim.
ADIL ABDULLAH
Karachi
IN your issue of Oct 23 Mr M.P. Bhandara has expressed apprehension about the “slow foxtrot” detente over Kashmir between India and Pakistan. While looking back, ever since the Kashmiris started the long wait for the promised right of self-determination, the world has watched many performances. First there were six “quick step” performances to the tune of the UN by the enlightened founding father of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, clear and loud in his six speeches.
He went back on his word and put his clapping partner Shaikh Abdullah in jail because he could not keep the rhythm. The latter cooled his heels for many years.
Then the Chinese war-drums started beating in the Himalayas and the world witnessed six quick “tangos” between Swaran Singh and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The war drums fell silent.
The American orchestra packed up quick as usual when the show was over. The Kashmiris waited. This was followed by two “war dances” ending up in the “tower of silence” at Shimla.
India became an atomic power, Pakistan followed. They clashed at Siachen and Kargil and Kashmir became an “atomic flash-point”, a source of concern for the whole world.
Now “confidence-building wallahs” are whirling in an ecstasy of a “derwish dance” at Wagha and Atari and whispering the mantra “plebiscite is blasphemy”.
The fact remains that more than 80,000 people, mostly Kashmiris, asking for the promised right of self-determination have been killed by the Indian army.
They are not terrorists. With each one killed every day, his family and friends became potential terrorists.
The so-called LoC is the Berlin wall dividing the same people, unable even to condole with each other in this hour of grief.
It seems that history shall repeat it self, the wall shall crumble to the applause of the whole world. The dance shall not be a “slow foxtrot” or a “waltz” but an earth-shaking “bhangra”.
DR A. HAYE SAEED
Karachi
THE government’s latest gas management policy (Dawn, Sept 11) allocating preference to combined cycle and cogeneration power plant is already showing results and quite a few advertisements covering these requirements have appeared in newspapers since then.
If the policy is correctly followed, we should start seeing gas conservation in the near future and the saved gas can then be made available to industries in dire need.
However, like everything else, we lose on the implementation phase since vested interests take over. In spite of this new directive, we find a large government office complex advertising change from gas-fired cogeneration to self-generation in an inefficient mode (exactly opposite of what the policy is trying to cover). Also, a five-star hotel is installing an inefficient gas-fired self-generation power plant (and that too on a plot not owned by it) which is very unfortunate.
Who should be checking these inefficient gas guzzlers? Surely, it should be the local gas company, which must ensure efficiency. Unfortunately Sui Southern Gas Company appears little concerned about energy conservation. So the question of proactive steps cannot be expected from it. Its new office building is a bad example of energy waste. The building design would not even get a passing grade for “reen building” requirements, though the Sui Northern head office building (built 15 years back) would still get some rating for efficiency. The SSGC building also has an inefficient gas-fired self-generation power plant, so how can one expect much action from it?
To top it all, the incognito letter (Oct 26) from the SSGC tries to show that they are more efficient than the KESC which is impossible to understand. How can the SSGC compare its services with a total-loss organization with no hope of ever running profitably under the present circumstances?
The gas company needs to follow the government’s policy in its true spirit and it should urgently train its staff to understand energy conservation and follow the essential requirements of combined cycle and cogeneration designs for all power plants being fed from their gas supply.
AAZA
Karachi
I HAVE been enraged by the antics of people like Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Imran Khan and other politicians. They have lost no opportunity to launch criticism which is based on their cynical views of the government and which seems to be done to extract political mileage.
While President Musharaaf is inviting the world to help mitigate the magnitude of the tragedy, it is reprehensible for opposition politicians to raise objections to some nations and organizations who have offered their help. It was sad to see legislators of Nawaz Sharif’s PML make uninformed and foolish comments about NATO which is sending a company of an engineers company with heavy machinery to clear some of the still-blocked roads. To suggest that such a force will remain here forcibly and not return after the job is done reflects sheer ignorance on the part of those making such objections.
I urge people of all denominations, faith and especially bickering politicians to either buckle up and go to the people in the mountains and share with them their ample resources or keep shut.
Air Commodore (R)
SAJAD HAIDER
Via e-mail
THIS refers to Mr Fatehullah Khan’s article “Choosing the right dam” (Oct 17). As a matter of fact, Wapda has completed detailed feasibility studies and is carrying out a detailed design for the Basha dam through world renowned consultants. Pre-feasibility of the Skardu/Katzara dam has also been carried out. The environmental, especially the resettlement issue, renders the site unfeasible.
According to the survey at Katzara site, even a dam with eight million acre feet (MAF) storage would drown the entire Skardu and Shigar valleys, and the population affected would be more than 160,000. All the strategic roads and the only airport as well as all the agricultural land and fruit-bearing area of Skardu and Shigar would be submerged
Hill slopes rise vertically and there is no place for resettlement of displaced populations. There is no agricultural land available at the top of the hills. Interestingly, Indus water flow at the site of the Katzara dam during the entire year is a maximum of 27 MAF. How can a dam with 35 MAF more than the entire flow of the river for one year be built? It is not possible to block the entire flow at the same site due to environmental reasons.
The dam height required for eight MAF storage is 150 metres. For 35 MAF storage, the dam height required will be about 300 metres. This is an unprecedented height which neither geology nor seismicity allows.
The writer’s assertion that 15,000 MW of electricity can be produced at Katzara is wrong. Perhaps he does not know the engineering calculation of power. Also it is difficult to transfer power from Skardu to load centres.
As mentioned above, the water flowing per annum from Skardu is 27 MAF and at Kalabagh it is 92 MAF. Beyond Besham, there is no contribution of monsoon rains. It is logical that the dam site at Kalabagh having a greater river flow is a better choice for storage rather than an upstream dam site with a lesser flow.
Now we come to the siltation and the capacity inflow ratio. If the entire flow is stored, this will certainly entrap the entire sediment. If a part of the water is stored, it will accumulate less sediment and the outflowing water will carry away some of the sediment. Provision has been made in the Kalabagh dam for low-level and mid-level sluicing. This sluice arrangement has also been envisaged for Basha.
Mr Fatehullah Khan says that the Katzara dam (350 meters high) can be built at less cost than Kalabagh. Most probably, he ignores the upgradation and replacement of the Karakoram Highway, the transportation of construction material to the site and the power dispersal from Skardu to load centres. He is wrong in saying that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) had rejected the Kalabagh dam in October 1996. Irsa never made such a decision.
The Kalabagh dam is not a run of the river but a storage project. Being downstream, it will be depleted early and filled last. It is the only dam which can mitigate floods; tap the rain water contribution from all streams joining the Indus upstream and the snow melt from the Kabul and Swat rivers. It is the only dam from where the NWFP can draw its remaining share of water. The resettlement cost of Kalabagh has been recently updated. All the affected people will be compensated.
The Kalabagh dam will not only supply water to the existing system but also bring new area under irrigation.
It is also to be noted that China has never offered to build the Katzara dam.
NAEEM AHMAD KHAN
Lahore
THIS refers to the item featured prominently in your Sport pages (Oct 23) quoting Cdr (retd) Gilani’s criticism of the PCB’s recent marketing of various rights. His outburst seems motivated by the fact that the PCB did not freeze the bidding process in order to accommodate his employer TWI’s request for “a few days’ extension” in the opening of bids for the bundled rights on Oct 5.
He presumes that our other bidders would have been happy to twiddle their thumbs while TWI prepared to submit a bid, or for that matter chose eventually not to do so.
The request, ironically, was made even though Cdr (retd) Gilani is quoted to have said that the transparent process adopted by PCB did not provide a “level playing-field and did not justify the time and effort needed” for submitting a bid.
The type of two-round bidding process that he complains about is often used in our country by the privatization commission, and in the case of the impugned In-stadia advertising rights for the 2005 tour of the England team it actually yielded 61 per cent additional revenues to the PCB — this being the differential between the highest bids in the first and second rounds. Moreover, every bidder was aware of the two-tier bidding process and submitted their bids in acceptance of the ground rules.
I will crave your indulgence to make only one other point: In comparing the revenue stream being derived from the coming England tour with the results achieved from the 2004 tour of the Indian team, which came after a hiatus of over 14 years, Cdr (retd) Gilani displays a sad departure from objectivity.
Surely it would have been more appropriate to offer a comparison with a tour by any other visiting team — but perhaps it would not have served to admit the truth that the revenues generated by the coming England tour far exceed the amounts earned from any other tour, barring the unique 2004 visit by India.
ABBAS ZAIDI
Director Board Operations
Lahore
AYAZ Amir has overly criticized the army’s role in the rescue effort. The earthquake and the ensuing landslides are natural disasters of such magnitude that I wonder if the army could do anything more than what it already has.
Yes, the UN responded overnight, but so did the army. And I wish he would not suggest that certain religio-political groups are doing a better job.
JEHANGIR MITHANI
Mississauga, ON, Canada
THIS is with reference to the Lahore Diary of Oct. 23 and Ayaz Amir’s column of Oct. 28. Both talk about the insatiable appetite for personal publicity of our politicians. If a contest were held to find the one with the biggest appetite for personal publicity, the Punjab chief minister would win by a mile.
Mr Pervaiz Elahi has been rightly reprimanded in the diary and by Mr Amir as well for not heading back to the country from his overseas junket the minute he learnt of the earthquake.
That he did not and instead went to the US, shows him up as a politician who is unfeeling.
Even while he was in the US — after the quake hit — a campaign was launched in the media showing the chief minister personally directing Punjab’s relief efforts via remote control. The Punjab government should however know that people do not fall for such antics.
I also refer to a report saying that prime minister had asked his ministers not to use helicopters on their visits to quake- affected areas.
This was good because it seems that many of our politicians use these much-needed helicopters for personal visits, and often with hordes of toadies.
What do such visits achieve other than making the ordeal of the survivors more painful and humiliating?
A very cruel joke is played on the survivors when they rush to meet a helicopter expecting relief supplies or medical aid, but out comes a group of opportunistic politicians in their sparkling starched shalwar kameez.
S. KHALID HUSAIN
Karachi
IN THE aftermath of the terrible earthquake, I would like to salute the Pakistan Army for everything that they have done, are doing, and will continue to do. From what we read, hear and see on television, the army is doing that which we only think of doing while sitting on our leather sofas, behind our big- screen TVs. Being a Pakistani who is currently studying in the UK, we here have done, and are still doing everything that we possibly can from standing on footpaths and train stations collecting funds to working extra hours to have enough to send abroad.
But it is our soldiers who really deserve all the support and credit in the world. It is very sad to hear people who still criticise the army and the government without making a penny’s worth of contribution themselves.
FAHAD AZIZ
Ilford, UK
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