Under the rubble: Two die as 80-year-old building collapses

KARACHI: Two people were killed and five injured when the first floor of an 80-year-old building in Karachi's Red Zone area near Shaheen Complex collapsed on Saturday night.

Three houses inside the building were also damaged. Seven people were rescued from the rubble.

According to an eyewitness, the roof of the first floor came down all of a sudden bringing whoever was on that floor under rubble.

According to Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) additional director-general Agha Masood Abbas, the building was 80-years-old but not declared a dangerous building by the authority.

He told the media that the first floor of the building collapsed as it had tin roofs. SBCA teams, he said, reached the spot immediately and started investigations regarding the incident. After the inspection, the team would decide whether to bring down the building or not, he added. Last week, the SBCA had reissued notices for dangerous buildings in Karachi and other parts of Sindh in the wake of monsoon showers. In its press release, the SBCA's technical committee warned residents of hazardous buildings to immediately vacate dilapidated structures.

According to Masood, the SBCA has been appealing continuously to citizens to vacate the dangerous building through loudspeakers. However, until alternate residences are not provided to the citizens it is not possible to vacate such structures. For this purpose the Sindh government has written letters to different trusts to reach out to the people, he added.  

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2016.