Karachi could submerge by 2060

Dr Asif Inam, and eminent Oceanographer and Director General of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), in a recent briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology spoke about the possible submerging of Karachi and other coastal districts into the sea by 2060, counting the potential damage that environmental changes could inflict on the country. Unambiguously, it’s a startling and scary disclosure. Dr. Asif Inam informed the August Parliamentary body that some parts of Karachi’s Malir area have already gone under water while Thatta and Badin districts of Sindh will also sink into the water by 2050. Professor Sajid Mir, head of the Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology called an emergency meeting to discuss the escalating threat of sea intrusion along the coasts of Balochistan and Sindh, as well as the post and pre-partition status of islands.

Unfolding facts vis-à-vis this grave issue Dr. Asif Inam further said that during the past 35 years almost two kilometres of coastline near Sindh and Balochistan has submerged into the sea as well as 200,000 acres of land in Sindh. He told the members of the Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology that the United Nations Environment Programme and its programme on regional oceans had included Pakistan, in 1989, in the list of countries that could be affected due to rising sea levels. Dr Inam cited “abrupt environmental changes, severity in monsoon and increased flooding” as prime causes of soil erosion and change in coastline near Badin and Thatta. “This abrupt change has disturbed the oceanic lifecycle for which data from many areas is unavailable,” he added.

Commenting on the emerging threat, Secretary Science and Technology, Kamran Ali Qureshi said it was an issue of grave significance. Speaking before the panel, Sindh University’s Professor Sarfaraz Hussain Solangi discussed the issues of global warming, climate change and its impact on people. Speaking before the Senate panel, Sindh University’s Professor Sarfaraz Hussain Solangi also shed light on the issues of global warming, climate change and its devastating impact on people. He said, “We will have to prepare for climate change as the temperature of Karachi will rise by three degrees and northern areas are to witness five degrees increase in temperature.” Similarly, he said, as the country’s water table is turning more brackish in certain areas, we should urgently undertake a comprehensive study and research to sort out this critical issue. An official at Balochistan’s Coastal Development Authority also expressed similar fears and said water in some areas of Balochistan had also become brackish.

The scenario painted by the experts is indeed horrifying. It is scary enough to send shivers down the spine of everyone living in the former capital and economic hub of Pakistan and other coastal cities of Sindh. The questions that however arise is, are those at the helm in this country aware of the gravity of the forthcoming catastrophe? Are they taking adequate and substantive measures to deal with this gigantic threat that may engulf the residents of the sprawling city of Karachi and other coastal cities of Sindh in a magnitude beyond ones comprehension?

M FAZAL ELAHI

Islamabad