Friday, May 16, 2008, Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1429    

Strengthening of Govt - civil society partnership stressed

Raja Zahid

Islamabad—Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sherry Rehman has stressed the need for further strengthening government and civil society partnership for safer construction of buildings for schools as well as hospitals in the country.
She stated this while addressing a two-day international conference on School Safety here on Thursday.
The Conference was organized by Agha Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan in collaboration with Focus Humanitarian Assistance and Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN) against the backdrop of October 2005 earthquake that claimed lives of 17,000 school children due to destruction of school buildings in affected areas.
She said it is prime responsibility of the newly elected democratic government to provide shelter to the people and added that government was adding new terminology of safer shelters or safer buildings.
“We need to take concrete steps to ensure this does not happen again, our children are safe in the school and our rural women are safe in their homes,” Sherry Rehman added.
She said the building of a hospital or a school where there is a larger congregation of people, precise information historical data on intensity of earthquakes that have occurred within a radius of 300 km has to be collected.
In developed countries, this is a normal practice, she said and added but in this part of the globe, safety of school buildings and hospitals is perhaps the last priority. Emphasizing the importance of a massive awareness drive, Sherry Rehman said it is required to enlighten the masses across the country.
“It is high time that big builders are brought under a confederation which keeps updating their knowledge about the advantages of earthquake resistant buildings,” she added.
The Minister said people of NWFP and Azad Kashmir have become quite aware about the significance of earthquake-resistant construction of houses.
In his introductory remarks, President of Agha Khan National Council for Pakistan, Iqbal Walji highlighted the objectives of the conference and said it would provide an opportunity for collaboration among important stakeholders to develop a proactive approach in designing integral policies for safer, seismic-resistant schools.