Pakistan can learn a lot from Japan

Pakistan is now facing regular earthquakes as seismic activity has increased in the country over the last 10 years. It is this geological feature that provides the conditions for major earthquakes to occur. In October 2005, Pakistan witnessed an earthquake that measured 7.5 on the Richter scale and shook the whole upper area of Pakistan and many adjoining areas. Around 200,000 people were killed and thousands were left injured.

Earthquakes can occur anywhere on the planet and with little warning, however, there are measures that we can take to mitigate the possible damage by identifying hazards, building safer structures, and learning about earthquake safety. In May 1935, an earthquake in Quetta shattered almost all structures and killed around 35,000 people. The damage of the earthquake was so severe that 70 per cent of the residents of Quetta were killed and many more were injured.

Now, as seismic activity has increased, it is time for the Pakistani government to introduce new laws regarding the construction of buildings in order to lessen the damage during such activities. We can’t stop earthquakes because it’s a natural phenomena, but we can definitely save our fellow people from damages due to man-made construction. If we look at our big cities, we can find hundreds of old buildings that urgently need to be replaced. Big cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Peshawar and others are under threat from increasing seismic activity.

We have witnessed cyclones, floods and major earthquakes, yet we still haven’t rehabilitated the communities that were affected in the past.

Our government and institutions never learnt to face any emergency. Considering that, we have no proper strategy or plan related to such disasters, which makes the effects even worse. Not only does our government lack strategies, our own District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) do not even have an office or the necessary equipment.

It is time for Pakistan to look at countries like Japan, where earthquakes are common but thanks to good strategies, they have managed to minimise the damages.

— The reader is a Pakistani development consultant based in Karachi, Pakistan