- Thatta district under extreme threat of natural disasters like sea intrusion, floods, earthquakes, cyclones and water-logging
The Arabian Sea has intruded 56 dehs (hamlets) of Thatta district within 45 years and has caused massive waterlogging and salinity in vast area of the district, affecting agriculture which is the main source of the inhabitants’ livelihood, according to a study.
“The sea has intruded 33 dehs of Ketti Bandar taluka, 11 dehs of Kharochan, 10 dehs of Ghorabari taluka, and three dehs of Mirpur Sakro taluka in the past 45 years, while more area is likely to come under threat if a big dyke along district Thatta is not established immediately,” Community Organisation leader Mohammad Dawood told this news agency during a visit to the field hit by waterlogging and salinity in Mirpur Sakro.
The whole Thatta district is under extreme threat of natural disasters like sea intrusion, floods, earthquakes, cyclones and water-logging. The government intervention is immediately required.
The National Institute of Oceanography reports Badin and Thatta could drown by 2050 and Karachi by 2060 if immediate steps are not taken to stop sea intrusion.
Local people said climatic implications have been hitting people of Thatta in shape of sea intrusion, floods and cyclones, reducing their livelihood sources and causing acute drinking water shortages.
Dawood said the sea had intruded three dehs of Mirpur Sakro taluka while three others have been half-inundated, causing waterlogging and salinity in the area.
“The intruded area included Milko, Darki, and Pir Pathori dehs, while Ladion, Punbari and Lakha dehs have been half-inundated. The water level in the sea has risen due to climate change and discharge of industrial and other manmade waste,” Dawood said.
He said that 50 per cent coastal land was affected by waterlogging and salinity and hence, intervention of the government was direly needed to save it from more degradation. He said that dykes should be established around cultivatable land to save them from sea intrusion while tube-wells with drains should be installed to overcome water logging in the area.
He said that Mirpur Sakro taluka was under massive waterlogging and salinity and if this situation was not overcome, there would be a massive catastrophe.
Local Support Organisation (LSO) President Mohammad Ali Shoro said that most land of Thatta has been hit hard by waterlogging and salinity; therefore, immediate intervention by the government was needed to save people of Thatta from land degradation.
“We grow rice, cotton, wheat, sugarcane and vegetables. The rice is major crop followed cotton, wheat, sugarcane and vegetables,” he added.
Shoro said that shortage of drinking and irrigation water was also big problem in the area as majority of people along coastal area were drinking canal water, which caused water-borne diseases like diarrhea, and hepatitis.
He said the present government was taking no interest in providing water supply schemes to the villages. Local community confirmed the impacts of climate change along coastal belt of Thatta district that had reduced agriculture output and drinking water resources.
A villager, Ghulam Hussain Khaskheli, said that 80 per cent people in the Mehar union council drank canal water and as a result they faced diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis and gastro. He asked the government to provide safe and clean drinking water to the villagers by establishing water supply schemes across the coastal area of Thatta.
He said that waterlogging and salinity had badly affected production of cotton, sugarcane and wheat. He said that vast area of coastal land had become saline and is unable to produce any crop.
He further said that sea intrusion along Thatta coast was due to non-flow of required freshwater flow from Kotri downstream Kotri to the sea, while its other factors were climate change.
The decline in mangroves forests is also due to the sea intrusion. There is a need to raise mangrove forest along the coast of Badin, Thatta and Karachi with the help of the government
A lack of knowledge about severity of sea intrusion, waterlogging and salinity is one of the major causes behind destruction of Thatta district’s land and agriculture. Almost all governments have taken no result-orient steps to save Thatta from drowning.
Thatta, one of the oldest towns in the land of ancient Indus civilization and the district headquarter of Thatta, is situated at 98km east of Karachi. The total area of the district is 17,355 square kilometers that is, 12.32 per cent of the total geographical area of Sindh.
River Indus flows downstream the Kotri Barrage through numerous creeks till its delta in Arabian Sea near Chach Wali Mohammad deh at Keti Bunder. Four tehsils of Thatta district are on the right bank, four are on left bank while one tehsil Kharo Chhan is on both sides of river Indus.
The southwestern part is saline and sea-affected due to long coastline of about 107 kilometers as well as shortage of river Indus water, while the southern portion adjoining “Great Run of Kachh” on the border of India is desert like sandy area. The northern part of this district is paramount and known as “Kohistan” connected with Kheerthar range of mountains.