ISLAMABAD, Feb 12: The Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority declared on Tuesday that about 20 per cent houses built in the quake-hit areas did not comply with safety standards.
About 80 per cent of the affected people have followed Erra guidelines and techniques and their houses have been declared safe by the authority’s inspection teams.
Erra announced it would help owners of ‘non-compliant’ houses to follow safety rules and make their houses earthquake-resistant.
It requested the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) to carry out technical assessments of houses currently considered non-compliant.
Joint inspection teams will not visit houses which have already passed such checks.
According to the new inspection plan, houses that do not follow Erra guidelines but are earthquake-resistant will be given approval subject to their documentation and the processing of their cases by the Erra Headquarters for approval by the army and UN-Habitat teams.
Owners of houses which have failed inspection but can be improved with relatively inexpensive construction techniques will be advised on ways of making their houses earthquake-resistant. Such homeowners will again become eligible to receive the Erra rural housing financial assistance.
Erra authorities said that this was the last chance for homeowners to make their house compliant and get remaining tranches of their housing subsidy.June 30 has been fixed as the last date for inspection of houses after which no inspections will be carried out.
