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SHANTI
NAGAR North Karachi HUTS
ON FIRE NEWS
Infant
dies in shanty fire
A fire in six shanties claimed the life of a six to eight month old girl in
Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Saturday afternoon.
According to details obtained from the Fire Department, a fire broke out at
around 2 pm in six shanties in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Block 13 B, near Gillani
Railway Station. The minor, Alishba, daughter of Fazal, was burnt to death.
Fireman Tahir, while speaking to The News said that when they reached the
spot, six shanties were ablaze and after about an hour they recovered the
body of Alishba from the wreckage. Tahir said it seemed that the girl might
have been in a cot and while evacuating in a hurry, the parents might have
forgotten to take Alishba.
The body was dispatched to the Civil Hospital Karachi. The cause of the fire
could not be immediately ascertained.
(The
News, 18/01/2009)
Shanty
fire, pose more questions
The police inquiry into death of around 38 people, mostly children, in the
blaze in North Karachi leaves much to be desired.
It appears that almost everyone, from inquiry officers to the city police
chief, have approached the tragedy with a preconceived mindset, even though
it was important for those conducting the inquiry to be sceptical and
open-minded. From very first day, inquiry officers reached the “conclusion”
that the blaze was “incidental fire”. The logic behind this was that the
victims had installed ‘kundas’, and to balance power, they had “earthed”
the connection at the plot where they resided, and it caused fire.
Yet one wonders how this short-circuiting spread so rapidly and killed a
number of people, who could easily have escaped as the front side of the
shanties opened towards main road. Also problematic is the fact that
investigators did not collect samples from the spot to send them for
chemical analyses to ascertain possibility of arson. Instead water was
sprayed over the site.
Since our system is heavily tilted in favour of the rich and powerful, some
may blame the poor dwellers for the recent incident. The City Nazim said
that more than 1,000 families live in shanties in Karachi. He alleged that
vacant land is being grabbed as part of “an integrated plan” with
connivance of the police, and that land grabbers plan and bring people in to
encroach upon huge plots of land. However, it should be noted that the role
of builders in destroying the environment and civic facilities is much
higher than the poor living in slum areas and shanties. One wonders why
commensurate resentment against builders or land grabbers is not expressed,
and why is it that the poor seem to bear the brunt of all evils in the city.
The incident also highlights the importance of emergency response system,
which we currently lack.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister (PM) Yousuf Raza Gilani laid the foundation stone
of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Accident, Emergency and Trauma Centre to be built
at Civil Hospital, Karachi.
Since the Chief Secretary Sindh has approved Rs120,000 compensation for a
family of Ibrahim Haidery whose three siblings die in fire last month, one
hopes that the govt would show same enthusiasm for releasing promised
compensation to the victims of this fire incident.
(By
Imtiaz Ali, The News, 15/01/2009)
Slum
Fire Reignites Housing Concerns
A
fire which razed a slum settlement and killed 40 of its residents earlier
this month has brought to the fore the deplorable conditions in which half
of the 12 million people of this port city live - and official indifference
to their plight.
The government speculates that the blaze could have been caused by a live
wire falling onto the roof of the shanties which were made of bamboo,
cardboard and other combustible material.
"Initial investigations suggest there was no foul play in the
incident," city police chief Waseem Ahmed told reporters.
But Zahid Farooq, programme director of the Urban Resource Centre (URC), is
not entirely convinced and suggests that the conflagration could have been a
case of arson. "There have been too many instances where such ‘accidents’
were planned to evict the poor from the land."
A nonprofit organisation, URC has been documenting incidents of fire in the
informal settlements of Karachi since 1995. According to their survey, some
2,603 huts have been gutted in different settlements since January 1997.
"These incidents have rendered more than 17,146 people homeless. In
these incidents 26 minors, four young girls, two women and four men were
burnt alive," URC’s director Mohammad Yunus told IPS.
In 2008, there were nine reported cases of hut fires in which a total of 622
huts were destroyed, eight people lost their lives and 21 suffered injuries.
"But this has been, by far, the biggest and most tragic incident when
such a large number of people lost their lives, in just one night,’’
said Yunus.
Accidental fires often happen due to negligence in the dry winter months.
"But, these are slow and the people are able to flee. You will not see
so many casualties," explained Yunus.
The
fire, whatever its cause, has underlined the need to provide housing for the
poor. "The government must look into delivering land for high-density
habitation at affordable prices," said Arif Hasan, a Karachi-based town
planner.
Hasan suggests the introduction of a "social housing programme"
with "land mortgage schemes".
Over the years, said Hasan, Karachi , once a multi-ethnic and multi-class
metropolis has become segregated into areas for the rich and poor.
"The poor have been pushed further out of the city limits due to
evictions which are carried out ruthlessly,’’ Hasan said.
‘’Those still inside the city live in constant fear of being thrown
out,'' Hasan said. ''When they are evicted and provided alternate land, it
is usually in the wilderness, far from their places of work, far from
schools, health and transport facilities and where their women cannot find
any work.’’
‘’Land use is unfortunately measured on the basis of commercial value
and not social and environmental considerations,’’ said Hasan. He
suggests the imposition of heavy penalties to stop market speculation in
land which causes prices to go up.
Jorge Anzorena, a founding member of Asian Coalition of Housing Rights,
currently on a visit to Pakistan , told IPS that one reason why it is always
the poor who are evicted is because "the rich find their abodes an
eyesore".
Citing United Nations figures, Anzorena said that an estimated 180,000
people move to cities every day due to poverty. "Every year one billion
people are migrating from rural to urban areas. If this trend continues, it
will double by 2030. It means there will be squatters all over the
place."
"But when people are organised, which is not easy as there is a trust
deficit, they will be able to resist evictions. However, it’s not enough
just to be organised,’’ he said.
Anzorena travels across South Asia for six months in a year and teaches
architecture for the other six months at Sophia College in Tokyo .
Meanwhile, the powerful Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), in coalition with the
Pakistan People’s Party in Sindh, is negotiating with the Board of Revenue
to provide the survivors land to build houses. "Once we have the land,
it will just take us a month to provide them homes," said Ismail Rajput,
the area nazim (councillor).
The provincial government of Sindh has announced compensation worth Rs
100,000 (1,266 US dollars) to each of the survivors of the deceased. It has
also assured the survivors that the government would make every effort for
their rehabilitation and provide them land near the Bin Qasim outskirts.
But URC officials believe that land in Bin Qasim is not only far from the
city centre but also is an absolute wasteland and would push the victims
further into poverty. "These unfortunate people should be provided land
and money to build their own houses. And it should be given where they were
already living as that is where their workplaces are," said Yunus.
Yunus said the government should hold a "free and fair investigation to
ascertain the cause of fire." He also said the compensation offered by
the government was inadequate for the survivors to begin life afresh.
"They should double the amount so that these people can begin earning
their livelihood."
For now the survivors are housed in the auditorium of a nearby
government-run school on the orders of the city’s mayor, Syed Mustafa
Kamal, who belongs to the MQM.
"We have set up this temporary camp in the school till these people are
provided with alternative housing," said Rajput. "Our party [MQM]
is providing them with food, clothing and shelter. We have set up a 24-hour
clinic with both a male and female doctor. We also bore the expenses for the
burial of the 40 who died," he said.
A majority of the people living on the plot were migrants from villages in
the Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab province and were daily wage earners,
scrap collectors or working as construction workers at nearby construction
sites. Their women worked as domestic help in the affluent areas nearby.
Mukhtar Ahmed, who works as a chauffeur and has been living on the plot for
a dozen years, lost 12 members of his family including his wife, seven
daughters, three sons and a son-in-law. "In less than ten minutes I
lost my entire world," Ahmed said.
"Many such people come from villages in Sindh and Punjab when there is
a lull in farming to look for work in the urban areas. They keep going back
and forth and always live near their workplaces in shanties,’’ said
Yunus.
(http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45564)
22
children among 40 killed in fire
At least 40 people, 22 of them children, died when a fire engulfed about two
dozen huts in the city’s North Karachi area after Thursday midnight.
Over 100 people were living in the huts built in a small area of about 240
square yards.
Executive district officer (municipal services) Masood Alam told reporters
that some residents had lit a fire to keep themselves warm. But one of the
huts, made of bamboo and wood, caught fire and the wind fanned it out of
control. A few gas cylinders burst, adding the intensity to the fire which
soon engulfed all the huts. Most of the victims were asleep at that time.
There were walled houses on three sides of the huts and the open side was
blocked by flames. According to witnesses, about 60 people living in huts on
the open side managed to escape.
“I was sitting with my friends when we heard screams. We rushed to find
out what had happened and saw the huts engulfed in flames. We tried to put
out the fire but it was beyond control. The fire brigade arrived after some
time and put out the fire, but by that time the damaged had been done,”
said a resident.
People living in the area did petty jobs. A taxi car and a motorcycle parked
in the area were gutted. About 15 people suffered minor burns.
“I saw the charred body of a child stuck to his mother,” said a worker
of Edhi Foundation. “We have received 40 charred bodies. Twenty-two of
them are children, 12 women and six men,” said Dr Mashhooduz Zafar,
Medical Superintendent of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Among the children,
12 were girls and 10 boys, aged one to 12 years.
“Most of the bodies were burnt almost beyond identification,” he said.
The survivors were taken to a nearby office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
and later to a government school.
An injured man told Dawn that over 100 people had been living in the huts
for several years and most of them hailed from Rahim Yar Khan.
Atta Mohammad, who suffered burns, said he had lost his wife and three
children. In the hospital, a middle-aged man, Asghar, said nine of his
relatives had been killed. “I came here to look for my sister and her
seven children, but all of them are dead.”
(By
Azfar-ul-Ashfaque, Dawn, 10/01/2009)
What
caused the fire?
The
exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Three different theories
have, however, been in circulation. Some neighbours claim that the squatters
on plots no. LS-6 and LS-7 were repairing “Koondas” (illegal power
connections) from a nearby power line which snapped and fell on the plot. It
sparked a fire which quickly engulfed all the shanties.
A second theory, which also being circulated by government officials, states
that some of the residents had lit fires to warm themselves on a cold and
windy Thursday night. The wind carried embers of the fire to some of the
nearby shanties, which caught fire. This theory, however, was refuted by
survivors who The News spoke to. “If we wanted to light a fire, do you
think we would do that near the gate, which is the only escape route we
have? Do you think we’re suicidal?” one of the survivors, 45-year-old
dignified-looking Abdul Hameed, retorted indignantly. “We were burnt! Our
families have been murdered.”
A third theory stems from this statement made repeatedly by Hameed and other
survivors. They allege that the owners of the plot wanted them to leave and
had resorted to arson to drive them out.
(The
News, 10/01/2008)
Slums
susceptible to disaster without planning
As
the government announced investigations into Thursday’s midnight fire that
swept through dozens of homes in a North Karachi shanty town claiming 40
lives (mainly children), experts have identified nearly 200 such itinerant
settlements across the city with no civic infrastructure, vulnerable to
similar incidents.
While there is no city government study enumerating the number of
residential localities built purely with bamboo, straw and cartons, experts
engaged in such activities feel it is not possible to ascertain the exact
figures, but they would not be fewer than 200, ranging from 10 units to 100
in each town.
“They keep moving depending on their employment needs,” said Tasneem
Ahmad Siddiqui, chairman of Saibaan, a non-governmental organisation
providing shelter to the homeless. “One can’t exactly come up with the
figures but through surveys for our own work, we can say that the number of
such settlements would not be fewer than 200.”
He said the families residing in these shanties belong to the labour class,
members of which prefer to live near their workplaces and keep changing
their residences in line with their employment needs. With no immediate and
easy solution in sight, the veteran social worker said the relief effort
demanded planning and concentration from the authorities concerned to avoid
such incidents in the future.
But until the time the government reaches any decision, officials fear these
shanty towns remain at risk of similar incidents due to various reasons.
However, in the North Karachi incident, the fire officials are not sure
about the cause of the massive blaze in the huts, erected over a
240-square-yard plot.
“Offhand we can say that since these settlements don’t have regulated or
legitimate access to civic facilities, they use unconventional methods as
alternates, which pose a danger,” said Ehteshamuddin, the city’s chief
fire officer. “Similarly, in the winter, the winds are dry with low
humidity and areas where such huts have been set up are at serious risk of
fire.”
However, he was not ready to single out any of the conventional reasons
behind the recent fire and said only proper investigations into the incident
could lead to the actual cause of the blaze, which killed mostly children
who were in deep sleep while their huts burned.
But the capability and expertise required for these kinds of investigations
to achieve the desired results remains a tall order for the experts.
“Fire investigation is (based on) process and expertise,” said Tariq
Moen, secretary of the Fire Protection Association of Pakistan. “In the
first phase, it would definitely include interviews of the people affected,
witnesses and pictures of the affected parts, but I don’t know how much
these formalities have been met before initiating the process.”
He said following modern lines, one could reach the conclusion that either
the fire was caused by an incident or was an act of arson for particular
reasons. But here, he added, the fire investigations – largely based on
speculation and estimates – most of the time never unearthed the actual
reasons.
“There is a need to take experts on board to set up a dedicated platform
for fire protection and an awareness campaign among the masses,” said Mr
Moen. “And secondly, the defined rules must be implemented, which would
definitely help curb such incidents.”
Apart from efforts to keep the city safe from such deadly incidents, the
experts feel the need to plan the city in such a way which caters to the
needs of every segment of society rather than facilitating the privileged
class of the metropolis.
“Karachi is a low-density area in terms of population,” said Arif Hasan,
a renowned architect and city planner. “There is still space available to
provide shelters considering their needs and lifestyle.”
He doubted the efficacy of the proposed government plan to build low-cost
housing facilities for low-income people in Bin Qasim area, recalling that
in the past, flats in Lines Area provided to shelter-less people and
labourers could not achieve the desired results due to ill-planning.
“The use of land must be designed (keeping in mind) environmental and
social considerations and not value,” said Mr Hasan. “But unfortunately,
in our city particularly land is being weighed on its value without
considering the social and environmental impact. If this prevails, the trend
may have some serious repercussions in the longer term.”
(By
Imran Ayub, Dawn, 10/01/2008)
38
die in Karachi blaze
A
massive fire that broke out in a bunch of shanties in North Karachi’s
Sector 5-L resulted in the death of 38 people, including 20 children, late
Thursday night. Among the dead were 10 boys, 10 girls, six men and 12 women.
The fire broke out around 11:30 pm on Thursday night in two plots, LS-6 and
LS-7, within the jurisdiction of the Bilal Colony police station. The plots
had been inhabited by around 100 people who had lived there in around 40
shanties for the last 12 to 13 years.
All of them hailed from a village called Zeher Pir, Rahim Yar Khan in
Punjab, Muhammad Asghar, who lives in a nearby shanty town, told The News.
Many of those who died in the fire on Friday were his relatives, he said,
holding back tears.
The fire engulfed the entire plot within minutes. Fire tenders, however,
were quick in controlling the blaze, and none of the houses bordering the
plots were seriously damaged. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be
ascertained. Funeral prayers for the deceased were held after Jumma prayers.
(By
Urooj Zia, The News, 10/01/2009)
There
was no place to run
The
fire broke out around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday night in plots no. LS-6 and
LS-7, Sector 5-L, North Karachi, within the jurisdiction of the Bilal Colony
Police Station. The plots were “empty” and had been inhabited by around
100 people who had lived there in around 40 shanties for the past 12 to 13
years. All of them hailed from a village called Zeher Pir, tehsil Khairpur,
district Rahim Yar Khan, 28-year-old Muhammad Asghar told The News. Asghar
lives in a nearby shanty town. Many of those who died in the fire on Friday
were related to him, he said, holding back tears.
The plots are situated one behind the other and are surrounded by houses on
three sides. The fourth – the side facing the road – was walled, and had
a small gate. The fire started around 11.30 p.m. and engulfed the entire
plot within minutes. Fire tenders, however, were quick in controlling the
blaze, and none of the houses bordering the plots were seriously damaged.
“We have been living here ever since we came to Karachi,” said
24-year-old Raza; “Where will we go if we leave? We can’t afford to buy
alternate housing.”
Twenty children and twelve women were among those who burned to death in
Friday morning’s blaze. “We panicked because with the walls on three
sides and fire coming from the fourth, we had no idea where to go. Those who
could jump over the walls, did so. The rest died. This is why so many women
and children died too,” Raza explained.
Chhipa, Edhi and Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF) ambulances rushed the dead
and the injured to the ASH Trauma Centre. Bodies which could be identified
were handed over to the next of kin. Samples were taken from the rest and
sent for DNA testing to Lahore, and the results will be out in a couple of
weeks, the MLO on duty at the ASH, Dr Zahoor Ahmed, said. These bodies have,
meanwhile, been handed over to the Edhi centre. Most of the bodies which
were brought in on Friday morning were charred beyond recognition. Many
disintegrated as rescue workers tried to lift them out of ambulances.
(The
News, 10/01/2009)
Necessity
trumps grief for some blaze survivors
Friday
was business as usual for some survivors of the North Karachi fire. The
massive fire, which broke out in a bunch of shanties in Sector 5-L North
Karachi, resulted in the death of 38 people, including 20 children, late
Thursday night. Among the dead were 10 boys, 10 girls, six men and 12 women.
Residents of the shanties did not hold down proper jobs; most of them are
rag-pickers, while some sell fruits on pushcarts. Many women work as
domestic helpers in nearby houses; most of the children helped with the
rag-picking.
The survivors set up their fruit stalls at Powerhouse Chowrangi right after
the funeral prayers of the deceased. “My brother is going to the graveyard
with the ambulance. He will take care of things there,” Raheem told The
News. He lost two children in the blaze which claimed the lives of 38
people, including 20 children and 12 women.
“One of my sons was seven years old. The other was born less than a year
ago. My wife is at the shelter with the other women,” Raheem said. “You
think we don’t grieve, but if we were to stay at home today, who do you
think would feed our families? Almost everyone here lost someone in the
blaze, but we have mouths to feed.”
Other fruit vendors around Raheem laughed when asked about the compensation
announced by the government. ‘We’ll know about that when we get it,’
they said.
Meanwhile, it is business as usual as grief is put on hold and material
concerns take the front seat for Raheem and his friends.
Funeral prayers for the deceased were held Friday afternoon after Jumma
prayers at a ground two lanes behind the plots where the deaths occurred.
Tight security was ensured by Rangers and police personnel, as row upon row
of ambulances carrying the remains of the deceased drove by. Thousands of
people crowded into the ground and filled the adjoining roads or watched
from rooftops as the Imam burst into tears repeatedly, seeking forgiveness
from God for the deceased, who were later buried at the Shah Muhammad
Graveyard.
Meanwhile, the survivors have been housed in a nearby school building. Some
have been taken in temporarily by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) unit
office in the area. They will eventually be shifted to the Edhi Centre, KKF
workers told The News.
No FIR has been lodged yet, nor could the ownership of the plots be
determined, said SI Abdul Wahab from the Bilal Colony Police Station. “We
sent notices to the Civic Centre to find out who owned the plots, but Friday
is half-day, and everyone had left by the time our notices got there,” he
said.
CM sets up investigation team: Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, has
set up a three-member inquiry committee headed by DIG West Sardar Abdul
Majeed Dasty to investigate the causes of the fire. The inquiry committee
consisted of DIG West, SSP Investigation Khurram Waris, and SSP North
Karachi Dr Farooq. They have been directed to file the findings within a
week.
(By
Urooj Zia, The News, 10/01/2009)
The
anatomy of a shanty
Shanty
towns, both on leased and encroached land, have grown steadily in a number
of areas in the city. These settlements, aside from other problems, present
a huge fire safety hazard, which shows in the increasing number of blazes
that have broken out in shanties.
The News visited a few such settlements to inspect the structure of these
shanties, and why they are so susceptible to fire. Shanties in Block 13 and
Block 19 Gulshan-e-Iqbal, near Tayyab Goth, have both fallen prey to
infernos in the past, including an incident in which 150 shanties in Block
19 were destroyed recently on the night of December 22, 2008.
Each shanty is made mostly of wood with thick wooden columns serving as
foundations for the structures. The roof of these eight-feet high structures
are composed of “Chitais” made of date leaves and “Khaji” leaves. In
addition to these, some shanties use cotton chaddars to wrap the walls or
curtains at the entrances.
Shera, a resident of a shanty in Block 19 in Tayyab Goth, said that fires
usually break out there when someone carelessly throws a cigarette or a lit
match is accidently thrown into a pile of rubbish.
Adding to the potential of a fire breaking out is the fact that these
structures have all sorts of electric devices which are connected through
crude illegal electric connections (Kundas).
One shanty, which belongs to Ahmed, had a ceiling fan and a pedestal fan.
Though this particular shanty lacked the infamous DVD players, refrigerators
and television sets, the shanties visited in Block 13 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal had
the odd television set and many electric bulbs. The choice of furniture used
for resting on both the sites was wooden charpoys with a rope mattress.
Clothes and other cloth material lay strewn at the shanty for lack of
storage options.
Shanties are almost always placed close together with wooden columns or
Khaji leaves used as separators or fences. On cold nights, such as the one
on that fateful Thursday, when the humidity levels drop, the air becomes
profoundly dry and conditions become ideal for fire, and dry items like
wood, Khaji, and cloth become flammable.
(By
Gibran Ashraf, The News, 10/01/2009)
Survivors
deal with scars of
Lal Mohammad lost 22 members of his family in Thursday night’s inferno
that claimed 40 lives in North Karachi’s Sector 5-L.
A hysterical Lal Mohammad was being consoled by friends during the burial,
which was being performed at the Shah Mohammad graveyard in North Karachi.
Wailing in Seraiki, Lal Mohammad questioned the purpose of his life
following the loss of his family: “What will I do? All of my family
members are gone now …”
Lal kept wailing throughout the burial. “If I knew this would happen, I
would have asked my family to sleep on the road,” he added.
Lal lost his wife and five children, his father Karim Buksh and mother
Zubaida, and three brothers – Rafiq, Mukhtar and Bashir – along with
their wives and children.
Kaleem, son of Mukhtar, who survived the fire said that he woke up from the
warmth of the fire to see the burning pushcart of his father. “I grabbed
my younger brother Nadeem and went for my parents, but their room was up in
flames and I couldn’t enter it, so I rushed out to save our lives,”
Kaleem, who works as a lab technician, recalled.
Lal Mohammad was not alone in his grief as there were many others who lost
more than one family member. Ranjhan lost his eight-year-old son Saeed. He
also broke down when the surviving family members were called to attend the
funeral prayers, which were held in an open ground located behind the scene
of Thursday night’s tragedy.
Supported by his friends, Ranjhan was being consoled by the area women, who
were trying to calm him down. In reply to a question about how the fire
broke out, a weeping Ranjhan expressed his ignorance over the cause of the
fire, simply saying that “there were huge flames everywhere.”
However, as the ambulances that contained the bodies of the victims began to
line up, the female survivors of the tragedy also lost their nerve. Perhaps
due to the precarious condition of the bodies, instead of taking them out
for the funeral prayers, the ambulances were lined up for the prayers.
There was a slight delay in the funeral prayers as some members of the
Seraiki community wanted the burials to be postponed for a day. They were
taken to the sector office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement where the issue
was sorted out.
Shortly after, the funeral prayers were offered and ambulances were
dispatched for burial.
Since the bodies were badly charred and were beyond recognition, it was
decided that they would be buried in Karachi. Almost all of the dead
belonged to Punjab’s district Rahim Yar Khan. Some survivors of the blaze
did express their wish for the burials to take place in their hometown,
however. Some women from the neighbourhood told the media that almost all
the females residing in the ill-fated plot used to work as domestic help.
(Dawn,
10/01/2009)
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