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Archive for the 'Environment' Category

The sewage & buried seweRage system of Quetta

World Water Day 2010

KhAdim Durrani Quettawaal

Reading news items like the one given below is becoming a very commonplace whereby people express their concerns about Quetta roads and streets being flooded by the overflow of wastewater from the open drains or from the so-called non-existent sewerage system that often gets clogged up by the solid wastes. It is with that issue in mind and with the arrival of 22nd March, a date when World Water Day is celebrated, that I have made an attempt to highlight the present situation relating to the lack of safe water and poor sanitation in the Quetta Valley. Continue reading ‘The sewage & buried seweRage system of Quetta’

Ziarat’s volcanic coughing – an interview with Din Mohammed Kakar

Many people from around Pakistan might have heard about the minor volcanic activity that took place recently in the Ziarat valley on January 29, 2010 (Figs: 1, 6 & 8). According to media reports (here, here and here) only days after an earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale, residents of Charri area of Ziarat District of Balochistan witnessed sounds of explosions followed by smoke billowing from the top of the Tor Ghar – the black mountain – and then on Monday night it started spewing lava. It’s worth mentioning here that Charri area is not far from Waam which had been previously hit by a severe earthquake on October 29, 2008. Continue reading ‘Ziarat’s volcanic coughing – an interview with Din Mohammed Kakar’

The Public Toilets!

Khadim Durrani Quettawaal

Quetta is one of those unfortunate cities where no one is willing to own it and look after it. About two million people live in this city; every one, from politicians to administrators, claim they will reclaim Quetta’s past of pre- 1935 earthquake when it was known as a little Paris or a little London, at least the proud locals think this way. Today the landscape is totally different: our Quetta is over crowded, chaotic, dusty, and dirty and some places stink. Continue reading ‘The Public Toilets!’

Introducing QueTraffic: a draft proposal about changing driving attitudes!

Khadim Durrani Quettawaal

The traffic system in Quetta is such that no distinction is made between humans, animals and the machines; they move side by side and cross each others’ paths erratically. The news about the traffic jams are frequently reported in the local newspapers. The situation is so chaotic that people get frustrated with the inability of the authorities to do something about it! Continue reading ‘Introducing QueTraffic: a draft proposal about changing driving attitudes!’

Excavation of mountains around Quetta

Quetta city is in fact a vast valley surrounded by sedimentary rocks (limestone) of mainly Jurassic age. Without these barren and beautiful mountains Quetta would not be what it is today and Quettawaalaas would not behave the way they do today as the kind of (natural) environment we live in has a direct bearing on our psychological and social development.
Continue reading ‘Excavation of mountains around Quetta’

The hidden Mountains and the Meezaan Chauk!

Khadim Durrani Quettawaal

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