Many were left gasping for breath after the sand storm that hit the city on Monday night, almost blinding everyone with the routine eight-kilometre visibility range reducing to only half a kilometre.
The natural phenomenon, which the people said was not at all forecasted by meteorologists, left the city roads deserted as commuters, both drivers and pedestrians, found it difficult to travel due to limited visibility.
Most hard-hit were the citizens already suffering from respiratory diseases or with dust allergy.
While some shrewd people resorted to wearing facemasks, many others, especially the ones suffering from asthma, ended up in hospitals or clinics due to respiratory complexities.
One of them was 45-year-old Anwar, who was rushed to the Keamari Campus of Dr Ziauddin Hospital to be admitted. “He suffered an asthmatic attack due to the [dust] storm,” his neighbour, Gul Akbar, told Pakistan Today.
Talking with Pakistan Today, Dr Nadeem Iqbal, who runs a small clinic in the vicinity of Karachi Port Trust, said he had treated four or five patients for being breathless due to the dusty atmosphere. “Such storms badly affect the asthma patients or those allergic to dust,” the doctor said.
He said the patients find it hard to breathe after inhaling excessive dust as well as lack of oxygen.
Ahmed Khan also spent the night shutting down his house’s doors and windows while also wrapping a piece of cloth on his face.
“I left my office at around 9:00 pm and immediately went out of breath,” said Khan, who loves in the PECHS area. He said it was impossible for him to respire as nothing but dust was being inhaled.
A journalist at the Karachi Press Club, Wakeel Ahmed, recalled that he saw many people sneezing uncontrollably. “They were probably allergic to dust,” he speculated.
He claimed having a couple of cups of black tea to clear his throat that he said was full of dust.
A biker on the main Shahrah-e-Faisal said he was in a fix while riding home as “I could neither cover my eyes nor face the dusty air”.
Bilquis Khanam, a resident of the Nursery area, said she had just recovered from flu and the storm put her back. “I am sneezing again due to yesterday’s storm,” she complained.
Amin Khan said he had his children wear a facemask so that they could avoid inhaling dust.
All this puts to the question efficiency of the Met Office which remained ignorant of the dust storm hitting the city. And even if it was aware, the masses were not alerted to take precautionary measures.
“I only came to know of the storm when I came out of my office,” said Muhammad Siraj, an office boy at Shahrah-e-Faisal.
