PESHAWAR: An earthquake measuring 5.3 magnitude on the International Richter Scale jolted most of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts at around 4:34 p.m. on Sunday, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) informed.

The tremors were felt in Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda and other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The PMD shared the details of the earthquake Depth: 154 km, Latitude: 36.53 N, Longitude: 70.96 E
The epicenter of the earthquake was in the mountainous range of Koh e Hindukush Afghanistan. No casualty was reported till the filling of the news.

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On the other hand, experts say that the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have raised many questions about how the conditions of the infrastructure we have in Pakistan is safe enough, if our region faces a seismic catastrophe of similar magnitude or even an earthquake of low-intensity. The concern is pressing and calls for immediate action. According to the World Bank, since the earthquake of 2005, seismic risks in Pakistan have only increased.

“We [in Pakistan] are sitting on the verge of three plates: the Indo-Australian plate, the Arabian plate, and the Eurasian plate. It’s a miracle that we do not face any massive earthquakes because the conditions are not very favourable,” says Meritorious Professor at the University of Karachi’s Geography department Prof. Dr. Jamil H Kazmi.

Seismic zones are the areas where earthquakes tend to focus and can cause destruction if not planned wisely. Because earthquakes cannot be predicted and can cause massive destruction and loss of life, precaution is what can be focused on to lessen the danger.

When hiring a construction company to build the house of our dreams, we place our complete trust in their technical expertise, and not just to make our design dreams come true. We essentially trust local builders with our lives when hiring them to build us a home to live in. The majority of homeowners don’t have a clue about architectural design and building safety. For instance, we don’t know what column thickness is required to sustain the impact of a natural disaster like an earthquake. Instead of merely focusing on the appearance of our homes, we also need to ask whether the builders we hire do justice to the design layout and architecture of the building or whether they display knowledge of the basic engineering behind safe construction.