Pakistan badly needs building control laws

It is said that wise men learn from history and past mistakes. Unfortunately, the recent deadly earthquake in Pakistan provided a grim reminder that the country’s top administration has failed to promote building control laws in the country. The push for a strict building code should have been immediately realized in the aftermath of massive tremor in October 2005, which rattled northwestern parts of the country and scored a death toll of over 80,000 people. The earth shook, but lawmakers in Pakistan remained unmoved. The earth shook again last month, and this time killed around 500 people in Pakistan’s southwest region. The country’s poor and marginalized, living in shabby infrastructures, bore the brunt of these natural calamities.
The tremors, which mainly affected the largely undeveloped province of Balochistan, should create a sense of urgency among the policymakers. The country has rather lax building controls and several weak infrastructures stand tall in even mega cities like Karachi. The rapid process of urbanization has also meant that authorities have failed to cope up with the demands of rising population and regulate the development of new infrastructures in the country. There is a need to enforce strict building regulations so that only earthquake proof high-rise buildings are constructed in the country. Any negligence in developing earthquake resistant structures may cause extensive damage and lead to loss of several thousand lives in a few seconds. Without a strict building code, highly vulnerable multistoried buildings, made of substandard materials and engineering standards, would continue to dot major cities in Pakistan.
Even though the regulators also feel the need to make amendments to the local construction laws, the road to implementation of stringent construction reforms remains difficult. The administrators express their inability to take serious action in this regard because of the influence wielded by well-connected and powerful builders. These builders violate all possible laws in the country’s building code to make quick profits. They have so far lobbied successfully and averted any moves to mandate the construction of earthquake-resistant multistoried buildings as it would increase building costs and dent their profit margins. Further, the engineering and construction sector in Pakistan largely remains fragmented and unorganized. Most of the builders in Pakistan lack adequate technology and skills to deliver projects that comply with earthquake engineering standards and world-class building codes.
The government should take a lead in introducing minimum earthquake-resistance safety standards, especially in major countries of Pakistan. An effective building control regime can only be enforced through a huge culture change effort by all stakeholders in the construction industry. Death of several hundred thousands of people in these earthquakes should set the alarm bells ringing and call for major building control reforms. There is also a dire need to create greater awareness about building evacuation plans and disaster management strategies among the public to create a state of better preparedness in the event of an emergency.
In case authorities fail to take serious action against irregular construction activities, there is a grave danger that a major city in Pakistan would present a catastrophic image similar to that in quake-hit areas.