Those who live in houses of glass...: Buildings with glass exteriors causing concerns

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Muhammad Ali was sitting in his office near the Rescue 15 office when the May 27 suicide bombers blew themselves up.

“I was sitting in my office right next to the blast site when the whole building shook like a tree. I felt a massive shockwave, and then I saw blood all over my body,” Ali told Daily Times. He was on the third floor of a building adjacent to the blast site.

Ali was among the dozens of people who were hit and injured by shards of glass that scattered everywhere like shrapnel after the high-intensity blast.

Locals, who were injured by the shards that day, are now reluctant to install glass windows and mirrors in their houses and offices. They say the shards could become “bullets” in the face of such massive shockwaves.

A number of buildings on and around The Mall – WAPDA House, the PIA building, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, the Alfalah building, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry among them – and dozens of private offices and shops were damaged as a result of the blast’s impact.

The broken glass of these buildings flew in shards, and injured many people who were near the site of the blast.

Over the past decade, a number of high-rise buildings and plazas, with glass incorporated in their structures, have been erected in the city. Such buildings add to the potential damage people might have to face in case of a terror attack. Those living or working inside the buildings face the biggest threat from the shards, and their chances of survival are grim.

“What if a big piece of glass falls on me at work?” Amir, a guard at a high-rise building with a glass exterior asked.

The Supreme Court has already taken notice of high-rise buildings raised in violation of rules and posing hazards to both the people and the environment of Lahore. There are around 1,000 buildings under scrutiny by the court for violating construction rules and many of these buildings have glass exteriors, and their boundary walls are also covered by glass shards.

District Officer (Public Facilities) Afraz Ahmad told Daily Times the district government had already taken steps for the security of high-rise buildings. He said the government had also asked the owners of such buildings to take extraordinary security measures. He said the government would discuss the issue of glass being used in buildings, but he said there were many hurdles. He said glass was used in constructing buildings all over the world, and having a glass exterior gave easy passage to sunlight, which reduced electricity costs.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg13_2