Caving in to the wet spell

The rain and snowfall across much of the country over the past five days have left a trail of destruction and misery. Scores of people have died and many more have suffered injuries as the skies burst open, releasing a torrent of heavy rain in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, parts of Sindh and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Predictably, as persistent rain lashed plains and snowfall pounded mountainous areas, mud houses and other weaker structures, vulnerable when exposed to the elements, in many instances either collapsed or had their roofs caved in, entrapping the unwary residents in the rubble. There have been some tragic incidents of entire families being wiped out as the roofs of their mud houses collapsed.

The mine collapse incident in Orakzai agency, where rescuers pulled out at least eight bodies three days ago, is also partly linked to the rains. Fatalities and damage to property in the heavy downpour of recent days have been substantial, exposing the inadequacy and ill-preparedness of our civic and disaster management authorities to handle the situation. It may be something of a rarity, but the strong weather system gripping the country these days was precisely forecast by the Meteorological department well in advance. Which leaves authorities little excuse not to have done their homework and mounted adequate response to the emergency. While some untoward incidents may have been unavoidable, the local authorities do not seem to have done enough to move people in the most-affected areas to safety. Also the fact that so many have died in roof collapses indicates that little has been learnt from past experiences and not a lot of attention is paid in the country towards building houses that can withstand the wet spell. It is no less than a shocker that eight buildings collapsed in Mardan district alone. Also, given that rain often leads to flash flooding, every precaution must be taken by the authorities to ensure that their emergency response systems are well-prepared and that residents are warned if there is more bad weather ahead in the coming days.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2016.

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