By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The use of corrugated aluminum sheets in roofing of houses is fast replacing the muddy structure since the devastating earthquake of 2015 had rendered the houses ramshackle making their reconstruction mandatory.
As per survey conducted by a local NGO, more than 90 percent muddy houses were reconstructed in Chitral and in almost all the cases, aluminum sheets were used in the roofing keeping in view its durability and strength.
The people of Chitral turned the widespread destructions of the earthquake into an opportunity and the affected people raised their houses on concrete foundation of cement and tried to make them seismic-proof.
Engineer Altaf Hussain Shah, associated with an international organization based in Chitral, said that the devastation of muddy houses on large scale as compared to the lesser degree of loss to the ones with aluminum roofs, the people opted to the latter while reconstructing it.
He said that in a seismic zone like Chitral, the metal roofing is the best option which is lighter in weight and resilient to ensure structural stability causing very minimal magnitude of loss to life even if it collapsed due to the earthquake jolts.
“I am sure that no house has been roofed by mud mixed with straws which were constructed after 2015 while all the present muddy houses will be replaced completely by the next ten years.
The generous and instant payment of Rs. 200,000 as compensation to the owners of the affected houses by the government coupled with the openhanded distribution of construction materials by the NGOs after the earthquake also encouraged the people to adopt new mode of construction”, he said.
Mr. Shah said that the metal roofing of houses save the occupants from the pains of making repair of the muddy roofs throughout the year while the torrential rains caused percolation and seepage of rain water.
The metal roofing has also relieved the people to the tedious work of snow clearance from the roof tops of muddy houses in the winter season whose slopped surface causes the accumulated snow slip down to the earth.
Prof Syed Shamsun Nazar of Rech valley of Upper Chitral said that clearance of snow from the roof locally called istan drek used to be one of the heavy jobs which the men folk had to perform in the winter season after each snowfall in the recent past.
He recalled that the villagers helped each other in the heavy job and feasts were arranged in the approaching night followed by musical concerts which gave it a cultural touch which is now a part of past because all the houses of his village are metal roofed.
He said that the use of metal sheets in the roofing and use of cement in its foundation, floor, pillars and walls manifested the financial improvement of the people which signified reduction of poverty in the area.
Hedayatullah, a businessman dealing the corrugated aluminum sheets in the city, said that soon after the 2015 earthquake the business of the material leaped to new heights while hundreds of its new shops were opened in every nook and corner of the district while before it the business was limited.
