Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, is completely unprepared for a heavy monsoon downpour, which according to the Met office may trigger flash urban floods in vulnerable areas.
Many roads of the city, especially Shahra-e-Jamia from Karachi University to Safoora Chowrangi, are still under puddles of stagnant rainwater while the Met office has warned of new and heavy rains.
The Sindh local government department, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and district municipal corporations also showed a complete lack of preparedness in the previous rains due to non-professional bureaucracy, corruption and kickback culture.
The citizens fear that many low lying areas of the metropolis would go inundated in the heavy rains that may trigger flash floods. The poor sanitary conditions may result in an increase of waterborne diseases.
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) leader and senior ENT surgeon Dr Qaiser Sajjad said that heavy rains have already brought miseries to the people of Karachi. He said the drainage and garbage collection system of the city are total failures and the government hospitals have already been overburdened. In these conditions, heavy rains, flash floods and urban inundation would certainly increase the number of patients of waterborne diseases but the city authorities are not well prepared to tackle the potential outbreak of dengue, malaria, typhoid, gastro, hepatitis, skin, eye and ENT diseases, he said.
He said that in Karachi, water and sewerage lines run side by side and their water often go mixed, especially during rains. He advised the citizens to use boiled water and not allow their children to play in the stagnant rainwater. He said the PMA has already issued guidelines for the citizens to save them and their families from the waterborne diseases. He, however, stressed the need of supply of sufficient medicine stock in the government hospitals, who he said, would bear a load of patients during rains and the post-rain days.
Pasban-e-Pakistan President Altaf Shakoor said that the civic infrastructure of Karachi has already been in shambles. He said the city in its present condition does not have the capacity to sustain any urban flooding. He said flash floods in Gadap and nearby areas have already been noted in the city and more heavy rains would play havoc with the low lying areas of the metropolitan but our bureaucracy is not prepared to plan for these things. He said there is a dire need to revamp the basic civic infrastructure of the city, especially its drainage system, so that the people do not face problems during rains.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sindh chapter chief Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui said that Sindh province badly needs rains, as water table has already gone down and rains would certainly help in recharging the underground water reservoirs in many areas, including Karachi. He said rain showers would benefit the paddy crop in many areas of Sindh.
He said the rains would also help in mitigating acute water shortage in Karachi. He said the irony is that our rulers lack vision and commitment to make this rainwater a blessing for citizens instead of a source of agony and torment.
He said, “Had we planned proper drainage of rain water and had created small and medium sized dams to store their water, there would have been nothing to worry about the rains but sadly, our planners at government level lack this vision.”
Siddiqui said local government polls were held in 2015 but powers are not devolved to the elected representatives and local bodies institutions are yet to be formed even after the passage of first half of the present year. He said it needs councilors and local bodies’ chairmen to resolve the grass root public issues like post-rains situations but our rulers are not sincere to empower local bodies’ representatives. He demanded to immediately constitute the local government bodies and empower their councilors and chairmen. He also demanded the immediate cleaning of chocked drains of Karachi and removing encroachments from them.
He said the Sindh Al-Khidmat Foundation has already activated its disaster management wing. However, he added that no organisation can alone cope with the losses of natural disasters as it is the duty of the government which also has ample resources to take care of such situations.
He stressed the needs of a detailed pre-planning for natural calamities like rains to avoid troubles for people. He demanded revamping of the worn-out civic infrastructure of Karachi and other cities of Sindh. He asked for efficient garbage lifting and equipping government-run healthcare facilities to deal with waterborne diseases and other rain-related cases in a better and efficient manner.
The municipal services department of the KMC has yet to realise the danger of the potential urban flooding in Karachi. Sources said though the Sindh government has already released Rs 450 million for emergency cleaning of the major nullahs of Karachi, actual work in many areas is yet to start as the matters of commission and kickbacks are reportedly still to be settled with the contractors. They said the contractors would only start work when they get proper work orders.
The citizens of Karachi, however, demanded of the government authorities to ensure proper arrangements in the city to effectively tackle the expected heavy rains and the resultant urban flooding.
