PESHAWAR, Nov 16: An American expert on Wednesday emphasized the need for safe construction and awareness about earthquakes to avert large-scale casualties and damage in future. Prof Dr Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado, who has been studying the seismic movement in South Asia for the last two decades, was delivering a lecture organized by the National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar. The theme was: ‘Earthquakes and New Millennium of Massive Earthquakes in Pakistan’.

Dr Bilham predicted more earthquakes of major intensity in the region which might kill up to one million people. He said that widespread destruction could be averted through ‘right’ construction of buildings.

“Earthquakes don’t kill, buildings do,” Dr Bilham pointed out.

He said a major quake had rocked Machh in Balochistan in 1931, prompting the British colonial rulers to introduce codes for building construction in the region. The 1935 earthquake destroyed entire Quetta except the railways station building which had been constructed according to the defined code, he added.

Elaborating geological features of the region, the professor forecast that earthquakes of bigger magnitude could hit Pakistan and neighbouring countries in future.

He said South Asia had also witnessed major earthquakes in the 16th century and added that the Indian plate was moving towards northeast, indicating that more earthquakes would happen.

Dr Bilham noted that Pakistan was lagging behind in earthquake study despite. He said the Pakistan Science Foundation and the Centre of Excellence had designed a project in 1986 to study the seismic and crust movement in Azad Kashmir, but geologists were denied permission probably due to security reasons.

“There was a general ignorance among politicians and the army. They were reluctant to allow us to carry out the study about the seismic activities in the region,” Dr Bilham said, adding that the project was later shifted to Nepal.

He said that China and India had allowed geologists to install equipment on their territories for a particular period to record the underground movement.

Vice-Chancellor Mumtaz Gul in concluding remarks termed the earthquake a warning from God. He said majority of the government buildings had suffered destruction in the quake which showed the level of corruption