Another earthquake
From Balakot With Trepidation - A follow-up of Oct 8

Another earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked the Kashmir valley and various parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan

at 03:17 IST . Houses have been damaged. Memories of the devastation of the seismic destruction caused two months ago made people leave their tents despite the freezing temperatures outside. Access to the mountains is difficult for officials who are trying to assess the extent of damage.

The article below is a follow-up of the October 8 earthquake.

A twisted concrete beam that lies amongst the rubble of what was once a primary school for girls in Balakot is covered with posters of local elections candidates asking for vote. In the empty piece of land adjacent to the collapsed school, an armoured brigade of the Pakistan Army has set up its headquarters for relief and rescue operations. The contrast is clear. The elected representatives, who had campaigned for months with promises of welfare of the town, fled the area at the first tremor, leaving their voters buried under rubble. In their criminal absence, it was left to the army to move in from North Punjab and take control of the situation.

The town of Balakot, one of the hardest hit towns in the devastating earthquake that hit Pakistan on 8th October, is no more. It gives the look of the German city of Dresden after it was flattened by American and British bombers in February 1945. Most houses in Balakot were constructed with stone masonry and clay mortar which are very weak against a lateral force like an earthquake. As the earth shook violently under the ill-fated houses, the stones popped out of the walls like hot pop-corns, bringing the roofs down. Casualties were higher in houses with concrete roofs as compared to those with the more common tin roofs.

The underprivileged inhabitants can hardly be blamed for building houses that could not withstand the strong seismic wave. Stone masonry houses with tin roofs are common all across the mountainous northern areas. Only the affluent can afford to use cement in masonry; others rely on the traditional clay mortar. As a result, each wall of the house remains independent or, at best, loosely joined with the others. To withstand a lateral force, a structure should be a stable form like a square or a rectangle which would not topple over. It is easy to topple an upright matchbox but it takes a lot of effort to over-turn a packet of cigarettes placed flat. If four walls of a house are tied firmly together, they cease to be mere walls. Instead, they become a cube, which is very strong against any lateral force. In Balakot and other areas, the walls were not tied together and acted as upright matchboxes – collapsing instantly. This does not, in any way, mean that cement and brick masonry is totally safe against lateral forces. In some of the collapsed buildings, one could spot brick masonry walls tilting or falling sideways, resulting in collapsing of the roof.

The whole of Indian subcontinent is under the threat of further tectonic activity in the Indian plate and the Karakoram fault line. There are speculations that this activity will increase with time. A lesson in geography of this region will tell us that the Himalayas were formed millennia ago by the very tectonic plate that shook northern Pakistan. In the aftermath of the earthquake, it is now imperative that building methods that are not earthquake-resistant should be discarded. All of north Pakistan, including Islamabad, that currently employs load-bearing masonry construction for buildings upto three floors, needs to shift to the safer and more stable reinforced concrete frame structure building system. The rehabilitation of the earthquake-struck areas must be done with earthquake resistant methods which will entail giving up centuries old vernacular construction techniques of the populace. It is not going to be an easy task for the locals and for those who will be involved in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected areas. The local authorities and municipalities should start the reconstruction phase by re-enacting and enforcing a 3-stage system: 1) Making comprehensive, international standard, building codes incorporating provisions for earthquake, fire and other natural disasters that threaten human lives on a mass scale 2) Devising a workable system for checking and approval of building plans by qualified professionals according to the building codes, and 3) Monitoring of construction at various pre-determined stages by qualified engineers (as opposed to semi-literate building inspectors of the municipality who, in most cases, are not only corrupt but also incapable of differentiating between substandard construction and good quality construction.)

The army, as usual, is working overtime in giving medical aid, saving precious lives, keeping order in the areas, providing shelter and organizing and monitoring the relief and rescue efforts. The next phase will have to be shouldered by the government. The overhauling of the system will need a lot of effort and resolve from legislators and administrators. However, elected representatives like those in Balakot whose resolve and credibility has come crashing down with the buildings on which their campaign posters were affixed may not have much role to play in the post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction phase.