Quetta bombing leaves ill-fated neighbourhood ‘uninhabitable’

• Massive explosion damaged many homes near Chaman railway crossing, making them ‘unsafe’ to live in • Administration forms body to assess damage and formulate compensation measures QUETTA: After a powerful bomb explosion that targeted a shuttle train at the Chaman railway crossing in the provincial capital, residents of the nearby Faqirabad neighbourhood have been forced to relocate due to extensive damage to their homes. Faqirabad is a densely populated area in downtown where working and middle-class families reside. The Sunday bombing left more than 70 per cent of the houses damaged, besides destroying the electricity infrastructure, due to which the area has been without power for the past 48 hours. “We have been without internet, electricity, gas, and water for the last 48 hours,” a resident, Haji Muhammad Nawaz, told Dawn , lamenting that not a single minister or other official visited Faqirabad. Several residents received injuries after the bomb blast shattered their windowpanes and caused the walls and roofs of the houses to collapse. Only two people from the area lost their lives in the incident, including Khalid Javed. Mr Javed lived in an apartment at the top of the building. Due to the blast, the wall of the apartment collapsed on him and his family – he died in the incident while three family members were injured. “The wife and two children are under treatment in the hospital,” a resident, Noman Ali, told Dawn. A housing colony for senior and junior government employees, located in the same area, was also badly affected. The residents were also forced to relocate after their houses were damaged in the blast and declared unsafe. At least 75-80 houses have been damaged in the blast, including 25 houses that were completely destroyed, said Khurram Paracha, a resident of the colony. He said some people were injured in the explosion, but fortunately, no deaths were reported. Meanwhile, railway workers...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan