Why all Hell broke out?
By Uzma Zafar

Whenever some natural disaster like flood, Tsunami or Earthquake occurs, of course it results in disaster and especially if it’s as strong as the one reported here yesterday, the caught the Capitaliites by shock, as they were sleeping peacefully in their comfy beds. However, such disasters are more dangerous for those of the masses who live in slum dwellings as no such earthquake has ever occurred, at least in Islamabad, that has ripped through the soundly constructed brick houses. On the other hand, whenever some structure is destroyed and a natural disaster has also been underway, all eyes go furious on Mother Nature, without waiting to know the real facts. And that was what happened for a while at least, here Saturday.Despite the strong Earth tremors, not a single glass shattered, nor any other tower got destroyed except for one in F-10/3. The architect community of the Federal Capital was not surprised at all when it heard that Margallah Towers had collapsed as they knew that sooner or later, the building had to fall anyway, as they, along the adjoining towers, were constructed by substandard material, but Margallah Towers probably more. But the finicky Capitaliites thought that probably Mother Nature had it’s hand in the disaster and thus, got pretty scared. However, none remained glued to the very confined of their homes but ran fast to the site of tragedy and monitored the rescue operation while helping in the way, wherever possible.
Many a times in fact, the masses got in the way of the rescue operation which was not easy anyway for the plaza had been constructed in the way that one could only enter from the small side doors and not from the front. Thus heavy machinery could not be used for the rescue operation. Besides, there was no proper equipment at hand with the CDA, that could initiate a successful rescue operation let alone a rescue operation in the first place, which the masses condemned at large. Many hands, feet and cries were hurt of victims struggling to get out of the rubble while suffocating of more falling on them as they’re on their way to safety. Emergency was declared at PIMS, Poly Clinic and other hospitals. But the question remains that why all Hell broke out in the first place and who should be sued for it. While probing this riddle, it was revealed that the owner of Margallah Towers; Ramzan Khokhar, employee of CDA, had built the tower in violation of building bylaws.
Moreover, the management of the tower was never issued the completion certificate called certificate to occupy building by Building Control Section; BCS of the authority, as claimed CDA Chairman; Kamran Lashari. Thus, all 38 apartments of two blocks out of 147 apartments of five blocks were razed claiming around 20 lives on basis of recovered bodies and injured many. There was also some serious structural fault in the demolished blocks as the building owner had raised 12 instead of 10 floors in violation of the building plan approved by CDA and the apartments were sold without acquiring completion certificate from the authority. The contractor, instead of using concrete beam to strengthen the structure, had used bricks as a formality, which in turn brought in the disaster. So this explains the fact why only Margallah Towers collapsed and not it’s adjoining; Al-Mustafa, Park Towers or any other building in the entire city for that matter and this fact is clear now that the problem lied in the structural and constructional design of the tower and definitely not in the seismic wave caused by the earthquake itself.
Though the Met Office had predicted that the aftershocks of the earthquake would be felt for the next 4 days or so, but as Mother Nature sent it’s natural shower our way, so that factor was also removed as no tremor was felt yesterday, after heavy rain and storm had occurred here the other night. Now, about the fact that why did the earth shake up in rage in the Holy month of Ramazan which we have never witnessed anyway, most of the masses have attributed to the ruling alliance workers’ immoral all night victory celebrations with lots of booze along singing and dancing. Others also fear that probably our sins have crossed away all limits, so now we are destined to face the Lord’s wrath. Hands raised in prayers, Capitaliites spent a restless Saturday night. Where the rain brought them some relief, there the hearts leaped for the ones entrapped under the rubble for it could hinder the rescue operations at large.
Sunday came as just another day for everyone, miserable because it was a holiday. But for the F-10/3 victims, nobody can say till now that how long their pain would go on. There are two things however, that should now be taken care of, so as to prevent similar accidents in the future. The government should initiate a thorough check on various constructions within the Capital city, in fact a committee should be formed for that matter, which should book the CDA officials where found breaking the law or helping break it through bribe and corruption. The structural and constructional patterns of various existing as well as new buildings should be checked so as to minimize the extent of such disasters in the future. It’s a fact that concerned NGOs and citizens affixed a banner once at the backside of Blue Area, right at the back of the Mobilink plaza, before a building, terming it as built with faulty construction material while it was still being made. But none of the authorities took any note of the effort. Do we need such a disaster to take notice of such warning? If we believe that prevention is better than cure, so the authorities should better check this matter out at the earliest, at various spots around the city, with the help of architects and concerned as well as knowledgeable citizens in this regard.
Then, this fact should not be disregarded that if completion certificate is not issued to some small residential plot even and a construction is done over the land, CDA keeps sending notices to the residents but in this case, no notice was issued. This could only mean that the CDA officials were involved in the deal not to say that the plaza owner was himself an employee of the CDA. Where the CDA had been very busy in demarcating the illegally built constructions, than was this the true face of CDA. That’s pretty shocking indeed. Secondly, the Crisis Management Centers of the city have been of little help here due to lack of resources. The general masses might not aware of it but the media men were shocked to note that the death toll in the entire incident remained 20 since Saturday afternoon to evening. Where the masses would have been relieved at the account, the journalists were not for they knew that this could only mean one thing, that the victims’ bodies could not be taken out of the rubble as the relief teams could not get through.
Because it was F-10 Markaz’s building that lost it’s ground and because it was a posh sector F-10/3 that faced destruction, all aid and rescue efforts were automatically aimed at the given area. Where the reason of the building collapse in this case remained faulty structure and construction, there on the other hand there were many slum dwellings and places which needed real relief for the earthquake on Richter Scale marking 7.5, had hit the entire city and in fact country and moreover South Asia at large, not just the elite’s sector. As Islamabad is a small city, so anything becomes a big news. And as elites form majority, thus their voice is heard more. There’s no denial of the fact that Hell broke out at F-10, but it does not mean that other places should be given step treatment. They should be looked after too and the government is urged to take stock of the situation and save lives wherever possible. This might in turn raise the death toll from 20 which was only recorded off the Margallah Towers’ area only by the way.
On the other hand, a full-fledged inquiry needs to be launched in the incident as voices would be raised once the matter is cooled off a bit as many heads have even begun to surface, demanding of the authorities as to who broke this Hell! It’s good that the authorities explain it to the government as well! Only this would give justice to the victims of this disaster!