Seismic survey before rebuilding begins: PM
Bureau Report

BAGH—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said the government with the assistance of Turkey and other countries will conduct seismic surveys in the quake-affected areas, before any reconstruction begins. Attending a press briefing here along with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyib Recep Erdogan, he said Pakistan has sought the assistance of Turkey, which has experience in dealing with earthquakes, to conduct the geological survey.
Experts from Turkey will be here soon to advise Pakistan on ways to have safer construction in the country. “We have shoddy construction and we do not follow the building code, and risk human lives.” he said.
He said the government would soon implement a new building code which would cater to all requirements of modern construction. He said soil testing would be a prerequisite for all new constructions. “We want safer building for our people and have to do away with the PWD mentality,” he added.
He said building in Japan and many other countries were constructed that can withstand high intensity earthquakes. The same was required to be done in Pakistan, he added. He said the new building code would be strictly implemented across the country to ensure that they provide maximum security to their inhabitants.
He said Chairman Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) Lt. General Muhammad Zubair was working on the plan and seeking input from experts. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government has placed a temporary ban on export of tents produced in Pakistan.
“We will soon be getting 7000 tents a day, which will be despatched to the remote areas”. However in the meantime, he added, there was a need that the earthquake affectees have some sort of temporary construction, keeping in view the fast approaching winter.
He urged the people to start reconstructing, at least one room, with corrugated steel sheets as roofing material, till the massive rebuilding operations gets underway. Prime Ministers Shaukat Aziz and Tayyab Erdogan later visited the field hospital set up in the lawns of the badly damaged building of District Headquarters Hospital.
They met the doctors, paramedics and the injured, most of whom had multiple fractures. The medical camp set up jointly by the Medicine Sans Frontiers and UNFPA’s District Population Welfare Centre of Jacobabad is catering to hundreds of patients from the adjoining areas.
The rear portion of the old DHQ building had collapsed, while the front was badly damaged, however the staff managed to remove the equipment and was using it in tents set up in the premises. A baby son born just before the visit of Prime Minister was named Shaukat Aziz by the mother Rubina. The twin sister was named Bushra after the lady doctor looking after the camp.
A young boy Sohrab had coloured a small sketch, showing Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on a television. Prime Minister Aziz enquired the patients how they were being treated and consoled with them over the huge tragedy that befell upon them.