• SBCA has declared 588 ‘dangerous’ buildings in Karachi
• 55 people have died in four main structural collapses during the last five years in Lyari alone
• Government prepared to relocate the occupants of dangerous buildings, says Saeed Ghani
Karachi: As another building collapsed powdered in Lyari on Friday killing at least 10 people, the shadow of a much larger disaster is coming over the city, since the fallen structure was one of the 588 officials officially declared dangerous by the Control Authority of Sindh Buildings (SBCA).
A total of 107 of the “dangerous” buildings are concentrated only in Lyari, which makes the last tragedy less shock and a more grim inevitability.
The building, now reduced to debris, was no stranger to danger. In fact, officials and sources said, it was already marked and listed as one of the 107 “dangerous structures” in Lyari, according to SBCA records.
Throughout the city, the SBCA admits that 588 buildings are too dangerous to the human room.
The SBCA claims to have done its job: letters sent, notices delivered, warnings issued. But, these actions are hollow when evacuation orders do not apply or accompany viable relocation options for already vulnerable residents. Most of these residents are daily salaries and low -income families without any other place where to go.
“We cannot evacuate bluntly without the cooperation of the local bodies of the law and social welfare. People simply leave,” said a SBCA official.
But reality is much more gloomy. Jawad Shoaib, a councilor of Liariita and the area, says that the authorities are more focused on “illegal constructions” in the area and had less interest in making serious plans for the relocation of the residents of these dangerous buildings.
“If you are told to vacate but have no money, plan or help, what does it do? Wait to die or risk staying?” asked.
This is not the first time that Lyari cries like this. In the last five years, at least four main buildings have collapsed in this historical district but for a long time. In 2020, three of those incidents left 49 people dead.
In March 2020, a single -plant house collapsed after torrential rains: two lost lives, five wounds.
Only three months later, June 2020, a five -story structure collapsed, killing 22 people. Later that month, another building fell into the Khadadad market, Lyari, claiming 25 more lives. And now, in July 2025, eight more names are added to a growing list of deaths.
That is 55 deaths in five years, all linked to crumbled and insecure buildings in the same area.
The question hanging in the dusty Karachi air: if these buildings have already declared themselves dangerous, why did people still live in them?
The local government minister of Sindh, Saeed Ghani, sees it as a real challenge.
Talking to the media after reviewing the rescue operations in progress at the collapsed building site near Aath Chowk in Baghdadi, he sought the support of people for such “sensitive work.”
“The real challenge arises when the government tries to force the residents of such buildings,” he said. “It becomes a humanitarian problem, and the authorities face criticism of displacing people from their homes. However, if the goal is to save innocent lives and avoid such disasters, strict measures must be taken, even if that means eliminating people from their shelters.”
He said that after the recent tragedy, people should seriously think that such incidents do not happen again anywhere in the city. “We may have to remove roofs on people’s heads, but at least we can save their lives,” he said.
In response to a question about the “mafia of the illegal builders” that operate in the city, he said that the government had taken strict measures against them, FIR presented and identified such builders. However, he emphasized that unless citizens cooperate, this problem cannot be solved.
“It is a matter of demand. We want to eliminate this demand. If citizens stop buying homes in illegal buildings, the demand will cease,” he said that efforts are being made to cancel the viability of such illegal construction projects.
Later at night, he told a press conference that the provincial government was prepared to displace the occupants of the city’s ruins to save lives and relocate them to alternative sites if necessary.
Posted in Dawn, July 5, 2025
