SIALKOT, Oct 8: Damage to government schools, mainly of girls, during the Saturday tremors speaks volumes for poor maintenance of public sector institutions in the country. Most of the casualties reported from the central Punjab districts of Sialkot, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad were caused by the collapse of school buildings.

In Gujrat, roofs of three institutions— National Model School, Govt Girls Degree College, Govt Ibne Amir School, Jalalpur Jattan, left 17 girls, a boy and watchman injured.

Damage to Govt Primary School, Bhikhi Sharif, Sir Syed School and a private school in Mandi left a girl dead and 12 students injured.

In Sialkot, walls of several government and private schools collapsed. In village Gojra, Daska, two minor students of a girls school were injured seriously when furniture fell on them.

Several bricks which dropped from the ceiling of the Govt Boys Jinnah Islamia Elementary School, Daska, caused injuries to a number of students. The school building has already been declared dangerous.

Seventeen students of Govt Allama Iqbal Post-Graduate College for Women, Sialkot, and their teachers were injured during a stampede caused by the quake.

In Hafizabad, the roof of Government Girls School No 1 also collapsed and left a teacher and two students injured.

Iqbal Manzil: Several more cracks have appeared in the upper portion’s walls of the dilapidated Iqbal Manzil, the birth place of Allama Iqbal, after the Saturday morning’s high-intensity earthquake.

Also affected were several roofs in the upper portion of the multi-storey building. No loss of life or property was reported.