Karachi: Kamal announces to set up task force for quake awareness

[Naveed Yaseen]

KARACHI: City Nazim Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday announced to set up a task force on the city government level, which will provide awareness to the citizens for the safety of their lives and property in case of an earthquake. An official notification in this regard will be issued in a few days.

The decision was announced in a meeting attended by Karachi DCO Javed Hanif Khan, Municipal Services EDO and international experts at his office.

The decision has been taken keeping in view that the city is located on a fault zone and due to substandard constructions, there are apprehensions of high material and human losses in case of an earthquake.

The task force will include experts from the world over who have a vast experience and knowledge about the matter. In the meeting, the experts, headed by Amin Hashwani, gave a detail briefing on the dangers of an earthquake in Karachi, the Karachi Fault Line Zone and on the advance arrangements that should be taken if the city faces an earthquake. The experts hailed from California and have worked in other major cities and countries of the world. The experts said that Karachi, being on fault line, is under threat and there is a great fear of there being high losses to people’s lives and property due to the low quality constructions, the lack of awareness about safety measures during shocks and the unavailability of advance safety guidance.

Addressing the meeting, Kamal said that the city government is ready to take all possible steps for the safety of citizens and protection of their life and property. He added that government organisations do not have much information about the fault line zone or earthquakes. Therefore, knowledgeable citizens and experts should extend their full co-operation to government organisations, particularly the city government, to help them in the matter. app

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