Pakistan to relocate city destroyed by earthquake

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have decided to relocate a town shattered by last October’s earthquake because it is too dangerous to rebuild in the same location.

“The quake-hit town of Balakot will be rebuilt at a new location,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said. In the light of seismic studies, agencies have recommended against rebuilding on the original site, he added.

Balakot, about 150 kilometres north of Islamabad, was home to some 300,000 before the October 8 quake destroyed it. Some 600 hectares in northern Balakot district was unsuitable for reconstruction due to seismic risks, the director general of the provincial earthquake reconstruction authority, Jamsheed-ul Hassan said.

“The land has become faulty and the area has been declared as a red zone and any investment in construction in these areas is not advisable,” Hassan said. He said his authority declared Balakot a red zone in the light of seismic reports submitted by experts from Turkey, China and Norway.

Some 30,000 people would have to be shifted to a new settlement for which the authority has proposed the name of Model Balakot city, he said.