Pakistan: Quake prone Balochistan without building control body

Despite the devastation caused by earthquakes in parts of Balochistan over the past few years, the province is yet to have an official body which ensures implementation of the building code which exists in the region on paper only. Additionally, the government is yet to take other preventive measures against natural disasters in the country’s largest province.

Balochistan is no stranger to earthquakes, considering most parts of the province are located in the ‘earthquake-sensitive zone’. But have officials in the resource-rich province learnt from past mistakes?

“Recent earthquakes were wake up calls for us,” Muhammad Ayub Baloch, who heads the University of Balochistan's Geology department, said.

And it would be difficult to disagree with Baloch since the province has suffered widespread devastation due to earthquakes over the past several years and decades.

In fact, it was on this day (May 31) in 1935 that Quetta was razed to the ground by a powerful earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale. The disaster that struck at 3:00am was felt about 165 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital.

The deadliest earthquake in Balochistan’s history took the lives of thousands of people and caused massive infrastructural damage. According to Baloch, there are two active fault-lines in the province — Chiltan and Chaman. “

The Chiltan fault line, located 16 kilometres west of Quetta, spreads up to Naushki and some parts of central Balochistan. The epicentre of the earthquake was recorded 16 kilometres in the Chiltan mountain. The seismic waves were originated 12 kilometres deep in the earth,” he explains.

Despite these huge losses of life and property and the lingering threat of further damage, no concrete steps have been taken to safeguard the province and its residents. Speaking to Dawn on the subject, Professor Din Muhammad Kakar of University of Balochistan's Geology department says: “There is a time bomb of mass destruction beneath Quetta."

Despite the province's geologically sensitive location and the destruction caused in the past, the 79th anniversary of the province's deadliest earthquake went unnoticed. Previously, meetings were held in memory of the victims as well as to spread awareness regarding natural disasters.

Soon after the earthquake in 1937, the British, who were ruling the region at the time, introduced a building code in the mountain-ringed city of Quetta, which was also implemented. However, after 1947, successive governments that came to power in Pakistan ignored the code.

Presently, high-storied plazas are being constructed in the heart of city in clear violation of the code and right under the noses of concerned quarters.

The Balochistan government is yet to form a body which ensures implementation of the code. Additionally, there is no master plan for the city of Quetta, which roughly houses around three million people. “Under the existing building code, up to 30 feet construction is allowed,” says Fazal Muhammad Baloch, an officer of the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation.

While QMC’s Baloch admits the city has high-storied plazas in clear violation of the code, no No Objection Certificates (NOC) have been issued for their construction.

Further, the poorly-manned and ill-equipped Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) appears to be helpless when it comes to coping with natural disasters.

“Current earthquakes have to be eye-openers for us,” Professor Kakar says.

Most parts of Balochistan are prone to natural disasters, including tsunamis, floods, droughts and earthquakes.

Chief of International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Balochistan Faiz Muhammad Kakar says the current climate change is also a contributing factor behind the increasing number of natural disasters in the province.

According to the provincial IUCN head, natural disasters have claimed more lives than terrorism.

Moreover, he has advised the government to act and act “very quickly” for preventive measures to cope with natural disasters in Balochistan.