An odorous aftermath

KARACHI: The city may have escaped the full furry of Cyclone Phet, but the weather system has affected the coast of Karachi in a manner most peculiar.

The stormy seas produced by the weather system have washed ashore hundreds, if not thousands of dead sea creatures and shells, leaving the residents of areas such as Clifton beach in olfactory agony.

The dead marine life has produced an odour that has enveloped the area.

While Clifton beach is relatively desolate, the windows and doors of houses and apartments around the area have tightly closed by residents to keep the odour out of their homes.

The residents of areas along the coast are usually fortunate given that the sea breeze spares them from suffering the full brunt of hot and humid temperatures during power outages.

However, it seems that the residents prefer to deal with the heat rather than the smell.

According to residents of Sea View, the smell started Tuesday night and worsened over the next 24 hours. It got so bad that the people living closer to the beach could hardly breathe.

“We had a sleepless night [on Wednesday] because of the stink in the area,” complained Salman Ahmed a resident of Block 26, Seaview Apartments. “We usually sit outside in our balcony when the power goes out but last night was simply terrible.”

Sixty-one-year-old Javed Anwer, who lives in Darkhshan Villas, blamed his daughter’s cat for the smell. “What is this smell? What has the cat done now?” he demanded.

The stink is not just troubling noses. All kinds of businesses are suffering the brunt of the smell which is keeping the public, usually so fond of Sea View, miles away.

Camel and horse keepers at the beach complained of nonexistent business.

“It is the second day that we were going home empty-handed since nobody wanted to take a horse ride due to the unbearable smell,” said a horse keeper, Naimuatullah.

According to him, the entire shore is blanketed with seashells. “People could barely walk on the sand,” he said.

Officials’ response

When contacted by The Express Tribune, Clifton Board Cantonment (CBC) and DHA administration said that they are already busy in cleaning up the marine debris.

“We have asked our contractors to clear the area quickly and they were doing their job,” said a DHA spokesman.

Workers of the firm, Saleh Muhammed & Brothers (SMB), which has been hired by the CBC on contract, could be spotted on the beach with their bright orange machines.

Huge dumpsters, loaders and tractors were being used at various points on the stretch between the restaurant, The Floating Ship, and McDonalds.

“We have been working to clear the area since 7 am,” said Muhammad Sadiq, one of the dumpster drivers, “And we will continue till the sun sets.”

Sadiq said that they had collected sixty dumpsters worth of stinking shells and fish till 4:30 pm and there were still 20 more rounds to go.

The shells were being collected with the help of loaders, then shifted to the dumpsters which would then dump the material at an allocated site in DHA Phase VIII. Ditches as deep as 25 feet have been dug at the site where the shells are disposed off. These ditches are then covered with sand and levelled by tractors, explained the contractor, Inayat Saleh.

The CBC carried out the cleanup in the area that fell in its jurisdiction while some area of the beach that comes under the City District Government Karachi was left untouched.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2010.