Buildings speak - not with words, but through the cracks that snake across their walls, ceilings, slabs and beams. They speak through peeling plaster, blistered paint, rusted pipelines and termite-eaten wooden doors that groan with age. Every creak in an old building is a warning; every ignored warning is a ticking clock. As Pakistan approaches its centennial, many structures - some dating back to the pre-partition period - stand in plain sight, slowly collapsing. Despite repeated eviction notices and clear evidence of danger, residents remain, bound by necessity or unwillingness to leave. With each passing day, another crack forms, another brick loosens, and the next tragedy draws closer.

In July, a five-storey building already deemed unsafe, collapsed in a cloud of dust, killing 27 people, including women and children, and leaving nearly 50 families displaced in Karachi. The rescue operation later revealed the grim reality: no enforcement, no relocation - just bureaucratic apathy. Government bodies had issued evacuation notices since 2023, the latest in June 2025 - yet residents continued living in deadly proximity.

Days earlier, another........

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