Buildings, not rain, keep killing people

Author: Malik Zeeshan Aslam, Waqar Ahmad, Faryal Wahaj and Mian Saleem

LAHORE: Rains don’t kill people. Buildings, however, do keep killing people in the monsoon season every year.

This year, dilapidated buildings brought down by heavy rains, have killed 28 people in Lahore’s localities of Multan Road, Ichhra, Gulberg, Jubilee Town, Shama Stop, Bund Road and leaving 34 others injured.

The number is high and these were avoidable deaths. Monsoon in Lahore was predicted earlier by Met office.

Since the start of the season in July, dark and thick clouds have been hovering above Lahore, and rains have often lashed the region. A number of low lying areas like Lakhshmi Chowk and Abid Market remained flooded with water.

A Rescue 1122 spokesman said their teams have rescued people who were trapped under building debris and retrieved bodies. The victims were aged from five years to 55.

According to a report, 155 of the 451, dilapidated buildings in Lahore have been declared dangerous and are likely to be demolished. Similarly, 289 such buildings in Sheikhpura and Nankana Sahib will also be demolished by town municipal administrations (TMAs).

The participants of a meeting at the divisional headquarters heard this on Tuesday. The meeting was attended both district coordination officers of Kasur and Nankana, Ammara Khan and Saira Umar, and representatives of the City District Government of Lahore, Sheikhupura, the Walled City of Lahore Authority, the Lahore Development Authority, the Urban Unit.

The meeting was held in the mid of July, which is quite late. The issue of rundown buildings should have been taken up well before the season. According to Meteorological Department Director Dr Muhammad Hanif, parts of the country have entered a pre-monsoon season which would end after two days. However, he also informed that a new monsoon spell would begin and it will be heavy one

Fearing that a relatively heavy monsoon would hit the country this year, Dr Hanif said, “At least 80-millimetre rain in Lahore is an indication of the strong monsoon this year”.

Most of the victims of building collapse were poor families. Despite several notices by the concerned departments, they did not leave buildings. They had no other place to relocate to and had emotional attachment with the places. Both the victims and officials are at fault here, which resulted in deaths.

Authors are the students of Superior University’s MMC-2014-16 students.