Biparjoy: Emaar Pakistan strong, high enough to withstand cyclone's impact, says DHA official

• Biparjoy to make landfall near Keti Bandar in a few hours today.
• Authorities in DHA remain indecisive about evacuations.
• DHA requests residents to take precautions ahead of cyclone.

As the threat of the likely impact of cyclone Biparjoy looms large in the residential areas by the sea, Karachi's Defence Housing Authority (DHA) has said that Emaar Pakistan can withstand the wind pressure and the construction is very much above the sea level.

The tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea is just about 275km south of Karachi and is likely to make landfall near Keti Bandar in a few hours today.

DHA spokesperson Farrukh Rizvi told The News that evacuation orders for Emaar, which is one of the high-end residential projects standing at the pier, will be issued if the situation worsened.

While the government is urging all the dwellers of coastal towns to evacuate ahead of the cyclone, the authorities in the upscale area of DHA seemed to be indecisive about the mandatory or voluntary evacuation until late Wednesday.

The District South deputy commissioner’s (DC) office had issued an order only late in the day, to the director of security of the DHA, to take precautionary measures for disaster mitigation in larger public interest in the light of the alert issued by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) for the tropical cyclone.

The DC office requested the administration to take all necessary measures for the safe evacuation of residents as assessed and recommended by the DHA.

Rizvi further stated that they had initially issued voluntary evacuation notices and were waiting for a notification from the commissioner's office. 

Once the deputy commissioner's office notified the safe evacuation order, they resorted to issuing mandatory evacuation notices in a few areas, such as Sea View Apartments and Darakhshan area, including from houses near Do Darya.

On Wednesday, the housing authority took to Twitter to inform its residents about its measures. In their last tweet till the filing of this report, DHA had mentioned Abdul Sattar Edhi Avenues and Do Darya as the imminent threat and urged the residents of these areas to evacuate.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, the DHA announced voluntary evacuation would start from Chota Bukhari, Chota Shahbaz, Nishat, Seaview Apartments and Darakhshan area. Earlier, it also tweeted voluntary evacuation from Emaar Pakistan, but later did not mention it in any of its tweets.

Meanwhile, the DHA has formed Mobile Relief and Recovery Centres (MRRCS) at different locations, including Imambargah Yasrab, Hafiz Cross Nishat, Saba Cross Rahat, DHA SVC Directorate in DHA Phase VIII, DHA Creek Vistas Campus, Phase VIII, SKBZ College Phase VI, DHACSS campus Khayaban-e-Hilal, Phase VII and DA Degree College, Phase VI.

It has also requested its residents to store clean water, restrict outdoor movement during the storm and secure their solar panels as loose solar panels are a massive threat to life and property.

As for the dug-up areas in DHA, their spokesperson said that they have done backup filling in areas where work has been completed. He said that they have installed 25-cusec power 14 pumps at the seafront while a few have been installed at various intersections to pump water out of the area.