KARACHI, Oct 27: Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Local Government Waseem Akhtar has said that people should be given training of safety measures against natural calamities.

He called for setting up such teams at Mohallah level which could undertake immediate relief measures in case of an earthquake or other unforeseen calamity.

He made these observations while presiding over the second meeting of Disaster Management Committee which met here on Thursday.

In the meeting, the management and technical committees, which were constituted earlier, presented their recommendations for consideration and finalisation.

Giving briefing with the help of charts and slides, the Vice-Chancellor of Urdu University Dr Iqbal Mohsin said that Karachi is situated in Zone 2-B which, being in the coastal area, is earthquake prone.

However, he said, as against the interior of Sindh where there are single storey or small houses, there is greater danger in Karachi because of multi-storeyed buildings.

Referring to recent earthquake, he pointed out, that human loss would not have been that much if the building structures had been proper.

Regarding the existing tremors, he said these are aftershocks which occur after a major shake and are not dangerous.

Senior Member Board of Revenue, Syed Anwar Hyder, recommended framing of building bye-laws as per zone requirement.

The Advisor directed the meeting’s participants to formulate such recommendations and strategies whereby safety and relief measures could be immediately started in the wake of natural calamities whether earthquake, cyclone, torrential rains, fire or any other tragedy.

On his directive, the recommendations of both the committees were released on web-site for public information and could be seen at www.lgdsindh.gov.pk.

The EDO Finance Roshan Ali Shaikh recommended the preparation of volunteers on community basis.

The meeting was attended by Secretary and Additional Secretary Local Government, Vice-Chancellors of various Universities besides members and experts of the two committees.—APP