Gul Plaza Inferno

In the quiet suburb of Marsden, Queensland, Australia, a 31-year-old Ahmed Raza Khan engaged in a self-sabotage act. Khan, who owns Lahore Restaurant in Marsden, intentionally set his restaurant on fire to claim insurance. This act caused more than $3 million in damage to surrounding shops. Authorities quickly overcame the fire, secured the shopping center in which the restaurant was located, and identified the cause of the fire through forensic investigation within a few months. Unlike the Marsden fire, Karachi, Pakistan has recently experienced a far more devastating blaze at Gul Plaza. Since there are several failures in this occurrence, we will explore them at three levels: macro, meso, and micro. The article questions whether the incident is a result of the negligence of all stakeholders and simply an amplified extension of the “normal”.     Macro Level The corrupt system of Pakistan, notably the Sindh Government, causes significant levels of vulnerability for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. While this article focuses on Gul Plaza, the past fire incidents cannot be ignored. For example, the fire incident of Baldia factory, RJ Mall, and Millennium Mall are the major ones (beside Gul Plaza) that caused many causalities and turn all these premises…