PAKISTAN PLANS TO SET UP SOME 50 NEW SEISMIC STATIONS TO MONITOR FUTURE EARTHQUAKES AND PREVENT MASSIVE DESTRUCTION, A METEOROLOGICAL OFFICIAL THURSDAY SAID ACCORDING TO DPA. 'INITIALLY, WE WILL HAVE 15 STATIONS CONNECTED THROUGH SATELLITE,' CHAUDHRY QAMAR ZAMAN, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE PAKISTAN METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, TOLD DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR DPA. HE ADDED THAT ALL THE 50 STATIONS WOULD BE OPERATIONAL BY JUNE 2007. THE 7.6 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE ON OCTOBER 8, 2005 KILLED AN ESTIMATED 75,000 PEOPLE AND RENDERED MORE THAN 3.5 MILLION HOMELESS WHILE CAUSING MASSIVE DESTRUCTION IN AN AREA SPREADING OVER 28,000 SQUARE KILOMETRES IN THE COUNTRY'S NORTHWESTERN FRONTIER PROVINCE AND KASHMIR REGION. ZAMAN SAID THE INITIAL 15 STATIONS, WHICH HIS ORGANIZATION IS PLANNING TO SET UP SOON, WOULD ALSO ACT AS TSUNAMI WARNING CENTRES. THE 50 STATIONS WILL BE IN ADDITION TO THE FIVE SEISMIC CENTRES ALREADY FUNCTIONING IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL ISLAMABAD, PESHAWAR IN NWFP, THE SOUTHERN CITY OF KARACHI, THE EASTERN CITY OF LAHORE AND QUETTA IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PROVINCE OF BALOCHISTAN, WHICH ZAMAN SAID WERE MODERATELY EQUIPPED. THE UPGRADE PLAN FOR THE FIVE SEISMIC STATIONS AND THE SETTING UP OF THE ADDITIONAL 50 WAS FINALIZED IN JUNE 2005, SIX MONTHS AFTER A MASSIVE TSUNAMI WREAKED HAVOC IN SOUTH AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA, KILLING OVER 221,000 PEOPLE AND RENDERING MILLIONS HOMELESS ON DECEMBER 26, 2004. --SP 23 59 LOCAL TIME 20 59 GMT
