Activists have strongly stressed urgency to prepare people and other stakeholders for handling heatwave and its consequences.
Addressing a session organised by Aga KhanUniversityHospital, the activists said that there was also a need for urgent realisation that heatwave would recur throughout the next decade and perhaps even beyond.
“Therefore, we have to sensitise people about preventive measures besides developing a policy to avert human loss and any crisis-like situation witnessed in June this year,” said Khalid Pervez, the head of Aman Community Health Programme and Aman Clinic.
He reiterated that preparedness level for all sorts of emergencies, particularly weather induced, must be enhanced by all stakeholders. Jibran Nasir, a lawyer and a human rights activist, said civil defence needed to train people for emergencies, not only for war but for also for peace-time calamities. There is sufficient budget for it but nothing concrete or plausible is done, he regretted.
Dr Seemin Jamali, the joint executive director and incharge of the emergency ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), said immediate attention required towards healthcare needs of marginalised sections of the society.
Medical experts and civil society activists, largely critical of the provincial authorities’ inability to respond to the previous heatwave in Karachi in a timely manner, said the unfortunate episode must not be repeated at any cost.
It was suggested that the government must hold awareness sessions and disseminate information to the masses through the media and religious leaders.
The speakers urged that the data of all public and private hospitals should be gathered to figure out the cause of the heatwave associated deaths, urging the need for liaisons between different departments.
They also highlighted importance of tree plantation and said concerted efforts must be made to raise the current five per cent greenery in the metropolis to no less than 60 per cent as it was a natural tool against many of the natural calamities. Mir Shabbar Ali, associated with urban and infrastructure engineering at the NEDUniversity, said vegetation was critical in reducing temperature and that almost 20 per cent of heat can be absorbed by vegetation.
The representatives of Pakistan Meteorological Department, Disaster Management Authority Sindh and others also spoke on the occasion.
SEVERE HEAT WAVE TO CONTINUE IN SINDH
Scattered rain and dust-thundershowers are expected in Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions besides Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Zhob, Kallat divisions, Islamabad, FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir during next 24 hours.
Severe heat wave will continue in Sindh including Karachi during next 24-36 hours.
A well marked low pressure area lies over Sindh and adjoining areas. Under the influence of this weather system, monsoon currents are penetrating into south-eastern Sindh and south Punjab. A westerly wave is also affecting western and upper parts of the country.
Weather remained hot and dry in most parts of the country during the last 24 hours. However, rain-thunderstorm occurred at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad divisions, Islamabad, upper FATA and Kashmir.