Ensuring seismic safety in Pakistan–Post Earthquake experiences
Tahir Shamshad and Shaukat Qadeer
National Engineering Services of Pakistan (NESPAK), Islamabad, Pakistan
The wide spread devastation caused by the October 08, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and Azad State of Jammu and Kashmir, posed a gigantic challenge of rebuilding. The earthquake exposed the vulnerability of the prevalent construction practices and the reconstruction was desired to follow the best known earthquake resistance techniques. A tough task for a developing country, but with a systematic approach the goal has been achieved in a satisfactory manner.
This paper summarizes the challenges involved, approach and techniques adopted for construction of houses and schools, which comprise major part of reconstruction work. The construction of houses was owner driven on the basis of set technical guidelines and regulated in the field by the inspection teams. The schools, on the other hand, were engineered as per site conditions, built by pre qualified Contractors and supervised by the Consultants. The success of this model makes it the best candidate for construction of new structures outside the scope of present reconstruction in earthquake affected areas. |
