KARACHI, Nov 13: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has completed a new building at its Karachi centre which is being used for earthquake monitoring system and part of it would be allocated for a dedicated independent tsunami early warning system of the country’s own, officials told Dawn.

Met officials said the new building would have the required space for the installation of a web of earthquake monitoring system covering the entire the country.

“In the first phase, we have completed the earthquake monitoring system in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Balakot, and a similar system would be installed in some 25 more cities and towns by the middle of next year,” Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, chief of the Meteorology Department, said.

He said the earthquake monitoring system in the abovementioned six cities had started functioning but their connectivity through satellite was yet to be done. Once a similar system was installed at the remaining identified places, they would be interconnected accordingly.

The federal government has released Rs200 million funds to the concerned authorities for this project.

Dr Chaudhry said the monitoring systems in the six cities were recording micro-seismic data which would help lay down guidelines for safety and research later on.

“The recording of such data would also help prepare bylaws to ensure safe living in the areas falling in seismic zones,” he said.

He said the PMD had already compiled guidelines for building structures in Quetta and had sent them to the Balochistan government to ensure safety for its capital city, which was in dangerous seismic zone and had faced catastrophic tremors in the past.

“We are compiling data and information for Karachi on similar grounds and would send an identical report to the government of Sindh for devising building bylaws to ensure safety of life if anything dangerous happens because Karachi is also is in seismic zone,” Dr Chaudhry said.

He said though the building was ready to house the headquarter of the country’s first-ever tsunami alarm centre in Karachi, the equipment and installation would cost a heavy amount, i.e. $10 million, for which international aid would have to be sought.

“We are in search of an international donor to get the equipment and other paraphernalia required to formally start a tsunami alarm centre and the talks with possible donors in this respect are under way,” he said.

At present, Pakistan has an agreement with Japan to share tsunami warning in a least possible time. After Pakistan evolves its own system it will share information with all the regional countries, including Japan and India, according to Dr Chaudhry.

It may be mentioned here that the PMD had last year briefed an international UN-sponsored mission about the initiatives being taken by the government for disaster preparedness and establishment of the tsunami early warning system in Pakistan.

The mission was informed that Pakistan was in the process of establishing such a system. The main components of the system included efficient national seismic network, network of at least 5-8 moored buoys, linkage to regional and global tsunami warning centres and capacity-building. The first component of the project, titled ‘Upgradation and strengthening of seismic network of PMD – the basic component of tsunami early warning system’, once completed, would enable the PMD to monitor and analyze any earthquake within minutes of its occurrence, which is of prime importance for the issuance of early warning.