KARACHI:
Pakistan Meteorological Department has issued a formal heatwave alert for Karachi which sizzled at 42°C on Sunday and 44° on Monday, with the feels-like temperature higher by a couple of degrees. Yet the authorities have not taken adequate pre-emptive measures to protect the citizens.
The human cost of this inaction is already visible. At least 10 fatalities have been reported from various parts of the city on Monday, attributed to extreme heat conditions and related complications. Historical data compounds this concern further. During previous heatwave episodes, Karachi reported approximately 1,500 cases of heatstroke on a daily basis, with many individuals being transported to mortuaries each day.
The severity of this crisis is further worsened by simultaneous civic failures. An acute water shortage, unannounced gas outages and continued loadshedding have all converged at the worst possible time, and it is the city’s low-income populations who bear the heaviest burden. Those living without air conditioning, without reliable water supply and without even a single uninterrupted hour of electricity, have nowhere to turn to. The authorities offered them nothing but silence.
What makes this even harder to accept is that these conditions are not entirely acts of nature. Scientific research confirms that Karachi ranks among the world’s cities with highest Urban Heat Island effect. This vulnerability has been built over decades through unchecked construction, steady loss of green cover and long-term environmental degradation. The authorities have watched this happen and done very little to reverse it.
The relevant provincial and municipal authorities should immediately establish functional cooling centres across all districts, guarantee uninterrupted electricity supply during peak heat hours and deploy emergency water distribution points in underserved neighbourhoods. Beyond this immediate response, a formal and enforceable Heatwave Emergency Response Plan must be developed without delay, so that this city is never again caught unprepared when the temperature climbs and lives hang in the balance.
A metropolis of Karachi’s economic stature and population deserves governance commensurate with its scale and its suffering. The city cannot keep burying its people while its administrators look the other way.
Sawera Nadeem
Karachi
