KARACHI: Expressing heartfelt condolences on loss of lives in an earthquake in Turkiye, Chairman of the Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Altaf Shakoor has said the quake is also a wake-up call for countries in seismic zones, like Pakistan.
He said Pakistan is situated in one of the highest seismic zones in the world, with the 1935 Quetta earthquake and the 2005 Kashmir quake badly affecting large swathes across the country. He said the country’s largest city is also vulnerable to tremors.
Although Karachi has experienced no major earthquake-related damage in its recorded history of 175 years, it is definitely located in a seismically active tectonic setting, much like Los Angeles, with active plate boundary faults and triple junctions within a radius of about 150km.
He regretted that there are no proper building codes in Karachi as well as other major cities in Pakistan. A majority of buildings in Karachi are too weak to sustain even minor shocks, let alone an earthquake.
Furthermore, the rescue and healthcare support facilities of the mega-city are inadequate to cope with any natural disaster. Altaf Shakoor demanded of the federal and provincial governments to take the earthquake in Turkiye as a serious wake-up call and put in place the required facilities in all major cities of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, in a letter to President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the PDP chairman said: “The hearts of Pakistanis always beat with the hearts of our Turkish brethren.
At this trying time all our sympathies and prayers are for our brothers and sisters in Turkey. We pray for the departed souls and early recovery of the injured.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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