Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi on Thursday chaired a meeting of senior officials from the relevant departments to review the progress of the fire safety audit for the required buildings. Decisions were made to ensure that all commercial buildings and shopping centres implement the required safety measures and SOP.
Eight hundred buildings have been surveyed so far. Notices have been issued to those that have not implemented the safety SOP, warning them to fulfil the requirements and ensure that safety measures are properly in place in accordance with the SOP.
The meeting decided that a mobile app containing information and details of fire safety measures in commercial buildings, shopping centres and large public buildings in Karachi should be developed. All departments involved in disaster management and fire safety will be integrated into the app.
In case of an emergency like a fire, the relevant rescue agencies will be able to access details of the safety arrangements and facilities on the dashboard to support rescue operations. The dashboard will enable all departments to coordinate and respond immediately in a centralised manner.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority System Analyst Diyal Das Rathore briefed the meeting about the progress of the survey. He said fire safety audit committees headed by assistant commissioners are carrying out the survey. The survey details from the committees have been uploaded to the fire safety audit portal.
Rathore said fire safety audits of more than 800 commercial buildings have been conducted. The survey includes details of safety measures in the buildings provided.
These details include information on required fire safety and disaster response arrangements. Notices have been issued to buildings that do not meet safety requirements, and they have been asked to fulfil the remaining safety requirements as soon as possible.
The meeting also reviewed adding the remaining necessary information to further improve the portal, so it can assist in firefighting efforts to deal with emergencies and control fires.
The information from this survey can be used by the relevant agencies to carry out immediate rescue operations in case of a fire or natural disasters.
Naqvi said work on the safety audit should be expedited. He decided that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation chief fire officer, Rescue 122, Civil Defence and the Sindh Building Control Authority would assist with the survey work.
He said they would identify buildings that need to be prioritised for inclusion in the survey. He directed Civil Defence to identify and provide a list of high-risk buildings where safety requirements have not been met.
Naqvi decided to expand the scope of the survey. He said that the relevant departments should play an active role and ensure the fire safety audit is completed as soon as possible to prevent fire incidents and make rescue arrangements more effective.
