World | Pakistan
Cities in 'constant danger of quakes'
A Pakistani expert has claimed that he correctly predicted the October 9, 2005 earthquake four months before it hit the country but the authorities ignored his advice.
- IANS
- Published: 00:00 January 2, 2007
Islamabad: A Pakistani expert has claimed that he correctly predicted the October 9, 2005 earthquake four months before it hit the country but the authorities ignored his advice.
Adil Razzaq Memon says the population in the quake danger zone was not warned and the government didn't place any rescue equipment or relief teams to meet the calamity. The government did not activate even the relief agencies, he told a meeting here.
Memon, an international expert on earthquakes, cautioned that major cities of Pakistan were in great danger of tremors in the future and there was no disaster management system in place in any part of the country.
Rural areas
While the 2005 quake was largely confined to rural areas, the absence of building codes and procedures in cities including Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad could result in mass deaths in a quake, he warned.
Memon said it was now possible to forecast an earthquake. The scientific methods being evolved could be refined easily to make quake forecasting as simple and accurate as weather forecasting.
According to him, Karachi is situated at the locking point of three continental plates Indian, Arabian and Euro Asian, which were in perpetual motion and accumulating large stores of energy beneath the surface.
Faultline
One faultline ran from Karachi to the north of Quetta and then it turned eastwards to Islamabad, Kashmir and the Himalayas.
The other ran parallel to the Balochistan coast and from there to Iran and into Turkey.
He was of the view that major earthquakes along these fault lines had been taking place with increasing frequency. Earthquakes along these lines were now a routine and not an exception.
There was another locking point situated 1,200 km south of Karachi in the Indian Ocean.
Here three plates, the Indian, the Arabian and the African, joined together.
Share this article
News Editor's choice
-
A year after 173 defenceless people were killed
Mumbai itself is far from safe from another deadly attack, even though the level of security consciousness of the average Mumbaikar has been raised since 26/11
-
Nato supports Obama's plea
European and other allies to send around 6,000 troops to Afghanistan
-
Official confirms mayor is the suspect
Many witnesses have come forward, justice secretary says
-
Into an oasis of values
A place to snuggle in the warmth of old manners away from the bustle of city life
