As the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecasts more rains in Sindh, the district administrations are gearing up the relief and mitigation measures in the affected areas. The met observatories recorded 16 mm rain in Mithi, 10mm in Badin, 9mm in Shaheed Benazirabad, 5mm in Dadu 5 and 2mm in Thatta on Tuesday. During the last 2 days the cities in South Sindh received a downpour of 63 mm in Badin, 50mm in Tharparkar, 28mm in Mirpurkhas, 15mm in Tando Allahyar, 7mm in Sanghar and 5mm in Hyderabad. Divisional Commissioner of Hyderabad division Ahmed Bux Narejo chaired a meeting with officials here Tuesday and reviewed the government’s preparation to cope with the weather and its ramifications for the people.
The commissioner informed that 544 de-watering machines, 76 mosquito spray machines have been handed over to the district administrations of the nine districts of Hyderabad division.
“It has been done as a precautionary measure so that we are prepared if the heavy downpour continues,” he said while chairing a meeting of officials of the concerned department here on Tuesday. He emphasized on the need of early disposal of rainwater so that the spread of water borne diseases could be stopped. The commissioner, however, expressed satisfaction over the situation noting that the division has been spared of the disaster being seen in the northern Sindh. He directed all officers of the municipal administrations working in Hyderabad Division and officers of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) to remain present in their headquarters and fields till the emergency continues.
The commissioner said that Sindh government would bear all expenses incurred on de-watering or undertaking relief and rescue activities and warned the officers that any excuse of funds by responsible officers would not be accepted and they would be taken to task. Narejo also directed the deputy commissioners and revenue officers to be vigilant and also to monitor the rain-related activities of the concerned officers and report their performances on daily basis. Meanwhile, a boy died and his elder brother was badly hurt after being struck by lightning while he was uprooting grass from an agricultural land. The doctors at Tando Muhammad Khan’s Civil Hospital identified the deceased as 14 years old Shivji Kohli and the injured as 18 years old Peechu Kohli. All the low-lying parts of the district especially in the rural areas were submerged.
The torrential rains also affected rice, cotton, sugarcane and chilly crops. “If the rainwater is not immediately drained from the fields we fear huge financial losses like the ones we suffered in 2011,” said Nabi Bux Sathio, general secretary of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, while talking to the APP.
The people of Tando Muhammad Khan also complained of prolonged power outages. The amount of rainfall the district received over the last 4 days could not be know because of non-existence of a met observatory there. The moderate to heavy rainfall also lashed the coastal district of Thatta over the last week and continued till Tuesday as the local met observatory recorded 2 mm rain till 10 am.
While the city’s dismal drainage infrastructure caused accumulation of the mixture of rain and sewage on the roads and streets, people in the low-lying areas complained that that the ground floors of their homes as well as shops had gone under water. The city’s Shahi Bazaar was filled with puddles of filthy water. The local farmers said the rice, cotton and sugarcane fields were inundated and any further rains or delayed drainage would affect the production. Thatta Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Nawaz Soho visited the rain hit areas of the district. While chairing a meeting at Darbad Hall in Makli on Tuesday he said the secretaries of all the union councils had been directed to ensure swift drainage of the standing water.
Soho said the rescue and relief of the people inhabiting the coastal areas was the government’s priority in case the situation worsened. In Umerkot the Deputy Commissioner, Sed Ahmed Ali Shah Jilani, visited the rain affected parts of the district on Tuesday. He directed the revenue officers to complete the report of financial losses suffered by the people within a week. He asked the Umerkot’s District Health Officer Dr Abdul Aziz Kunbhar to immediately start spraying campaign in the district to prevent the growth of mosquitoes.
Jilani directed the District Education Officer Ghulam Mustafa Soomro to keep some of the schools in the district prepared to be used as temporary shelters if the situation worsened in the coming days. The DC informed that monitoring offices have been set up in all the 4 talukas of the district and the local people can contact those office on the given telephone and mobile numbers in case of emergency.