PESHAWAR, Nov 10: Most of the buildings in the quake-hit areas of NWFP and Muzaffarabad were not constructed under a proper building code and in most cases seismic features were not taken into account, experts said here on Thursday.

A five-member team of earthquake engineers headed by Dr Naeem of the University of Engineering and Technology’s civil engineering department inspected buildings in Balakot, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Muzaffarabad just after the Oct 8 earthquake.

The team carried out structural assessment of buildings housing government-run institutions, hospitals and schools. It also attempted to find out why massive landsliding had occurred in the quake-hit areas.

Members of the team are currently working on a report which they will present at a two-day international conference beginning on Nov 18 in Islamabad.

“Most of the government buildings have been severely damaged and are not suitable for occupancy,” said Dr Qaiser Khan, an earthquake engineer at the UET who is compiling a report for the team.

In places where privately-owned buildings had remained intact, government buildings had, by and large, collapsed in the quake-hit areas, experts said.

Technical assessment experts told Dawn that the process of deforestation of mountains caused landsliding which enhanced the level of damage to life and property. People who lived just 35 kilometres away from the epicentre survived as there was dense vegetation there.

Experts said that houses made of stone had completely collapsed in the quake. They estimated the damage to block masonry at 80 per cent and brick-made structures at 30 per cent damage.

Dr Qaiser Khan said the damage caused by the earthquake could not be given in figures but buildings, roads and life lines were severely destroyed by the quake in these areas.

The experts also found out that seismic features like bond beams, proper connections, light steel reinforcement in vertical and horizontal in the walls were not seen in all the damaged buildings. Low quality mortar was used in the buildings which had completely collapsed. The galvanised iron sheets on roofs were also not anchored to the walls and collapsed in many cases.

The seismic features should be incorporated because these features add to the integrity of the structures, Dr Khan said.

The engineers have recommended that the same material and not something imported, as some architects and unprofessional people had suggested, should be used with some modification for immediate reconstruction. Only the quality of the mortar should be improved, they said.

Structural engineers, specially trained for the purpose, should be involved in building properly engineered buildings, Mr Khan said.

“The only thing needed is a realistic seismic hazard assessment for preparation of seismic maps,” Dr Khan said.

“According to the Met office maps, the areas hit by the earthquake of 7.6 magnitude on the Richter scale last month are not high hazard zones which had led to wrong assessment and lack of seismic features in the construction of buildings,” he said.