Thursday, January 26, 2006
What if...?
In a few hours from now, it will be exactly a month since a devastating earthquake rattled the Richter Scale at 7.6 in the northern areas of Pakistan. Baffling as it sounds now, the official death toll by the end of that day had not exceeded 100. Consequently, the world community’s response to the calamity was lukewarm, evidenced by the USD 100,000 pledged in aid by the US on the first day.
Earthquakes are devastating, and with the exception of earthquake prone Japan, which is one of the best prepared countries to combat earthquakes, an earthquake brings with it large scale death and destruction. Almost a decade ago, on January 17, 1995 Kobe, Japan was jolted by an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake had lasted 20 seconds, and the death toll from this earthquake was 5100 people. This in Japan, where afterwards Japanese seismology Professor Tsuneo Katayama had written that he “had opportunity to observe the damages causd by the 1989 Lome Prieta and the 1994 Northridge earthquakes”. However he had thought that Japanese structures would not collapse as the US structures had in those earthquakes. He was wrong, Japanese structures did collapse, despite the fact that they had been constructed under stringent earthquake safety regulations, and in so collapsing brought death to over 5000 people.
I wonder what were our poeople thinking when they spent the whole day covering Margalla Towers, when they knew full well that the epicentre of the earthquake was 90 miles to the north of Margalla Towers, and how did they arrive at the ridiculous figure of under 100 dead at the end of the first day, when they knew the eqrthquake had measured 7.6 on the Richter Scale? Did they think, our construction models were superior to those of the Japanese?
I just cannot stop wondering what might have been different had we reacted 24 hours earlier than we did…
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3 Responses to 'What If?'
1sh_gufNovember 8th, 2005 at 5:53 am
ٹیسٹ کمنٹ
2sh_gufNovember 8th, 2005 at 5:58 am
اور ابھی بھی ضروری ہے وقت پر پہنچنا۔۔۔ فوری طور پر جو نہیں کیا جا سکا وہ افسوسناک ہے تاہم اب اس وقت جو سب کرنے کی ضرورت ہے وہ اگر نہ کیا جا سکا تو ۔۔۔سوال یہ بھی ہے
3sh_gufNovember 8th, 2005 at 6:07 am
بھائی اگر یہاں اردو قابلِ خواندن ہے تو کیا اس ناچیز کو اس کاوش پر سلور میڈل کا حقدار قرار دیا جا سکتا ہے ۔۔۔ ! ¶ 1/26/2006 02:25:00 AM
Earthquakes are devastating, and with the exception of earthquake prone Japan, which is one of the best prepared countries to combat earthquakes, an earthquake brings with it large scale death and destruction. Almost a decade ago, on January 17, 1995 Kobe, Japan was jolted by an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake had lasted 20 seconds, and the death toll from this earthquake was 5100 people. This in Japan, where afterwards Japanese seismology Professor Tsuneo Katayama had written that he “had opportunity to observe the damages causd by the 1989 Lome Prieta and the 1994 Northridge earthquakes”. However he had thought that Japanese structures would not collapse as the US structures had in those earthquakes. He was wrong, Japanese structures did collapse, despite the fact that they had been constructed under stringent earthquake safety regulations, and in so collapsing brought death to over 5000 people.
I wonder what were our poeople thinking when they spent the whole day covering Margalla Towers, when they knew full well that the epicentre of the earthquake was 90 miles to the north of Margalla Towers, and how did they arrive at the ridiculous figure of under 100 dead at the end of the first day, when they knew the eqrthquake had measured 7.6 on the Richter Scale? Did they think, our construction models were superior to those of the Japanese?
I just cannot stop wondering what might have been different had we reacted 24 hours earlier than we did…
-->
3 Responses to 'What If?'
1sh_gufNovember 8th, 2005 at 5:53 am
ٹیسٹ کمنٹ
2sh_gufNovember 8th, 2005 at 5:58 am
اور ابھی بھی ضروری ہے وقت پر پہنچنا۔۔۔ فوری طور پر جو نہیں کیا جا سکا وہ افسوسناک ہے تاہم اب اس وقت جو سب کرنے کی ضرورت ہے وہ اگر نہ کیا جا سکا تو ۔۔۔سوال یہ بھی ہے
3sh_gufNovember 8th, 2005 at 6:07 am
بھائی اگر یہاں اردو قابلِ خواندن ہے تو کیا اس ناچیز کو اس کاوش پر سلور میڈل کا حقدار قرار دیا جا سکتا ہے ۔۔۔ ! ¶ 1/26/2006 02:25:00 AM
