Sinking Karachi

The citizens of Karachi wait for the day the rain will truly be a blessing for them

Karachi continues to receive rain and the rain continues to wreak havoc — with lives as well as public and private properties. This rainy season has turned out to be too much for Karachiites who are rather used to a ‘dry’ summer monsoon. Having started in the first week of July, rains have continued to lash the city to this day — at regular intervals. There have been six devastating spells of the cloudburst, with the ongoing one persisting for two days and predicted to continue for a couple of days more — something that is indeed rare in case of Karachi.

The current spell of rains in Karachi has been particularly harsh, leaving nearly the whole city under water. Be it Defence or Delhi Colony, PECHS or Patel Para, Bahadurabad or Baldia Town, Tariq Road or Teen Hatti, Gulshan-e-Iqbal or Gadap — the rain treated the posh and impoverished localities alike. The rainwater made way into the houses and shops, damaging everything inside. Vehicles parked on roads and streets failed to stand their ground and were floating on the gushing water, literally like toys. People half-submerged in the rainwater was a common sight nearly everywhere in the city, illustrating the extent of the rain misery. Three precious lives — of young boys — were lost, according to Edhi rescuers and police.

The city — at places — looked like a river flowing speedily downstream. All the major roads and highways, like Shahra-e-Faisal, Shahra-e-Pakistan, MA Jinnah Road and University Road, stood inundated, cutting off one part of the city from another. In Gadap Town, on the city outskirts, Thaddo dam overflowed its 37 feet capacity, and population in the vicinity were running for safety till these lines were bring written. That much of the city went without electricity is no news. As many as 300 feeders, according to media reports quoting departmental sources, were tripped, and power cables in many areas severed. The rainwater, says a K-Electric notification, also entered the electricity installations in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Bin Qasim, causing disruption in supply of power to several areas.

While it’s completely true that “jab zyada barish hoti he to zyada paani aata he” which proves too much for the civic infrastructure, but we have seen small amounts of rain causing big disturbances. And the main culprit in the context is pretty well-known: the waste-choked rainwater drains. Most of the underground sewerage lines in the city lead to some 64 big open drains which are supposed to take the sewer to the city two major streams known as Malir River and the Lyari River. Both the rivers flow south to the sea. This makes up a vast inter-connected drainage system meant for both sewage and rainwater. Besides, five more major drains directly lead to the backwaters of Mai Kolachi. But since many of these drains have either been encroached upon or blocked completely, they fail to absorb the cloudburst.

The havoc that rain plays with Karachi every time it comes is a constant reminder of the sheer neglect of a city that is called the mini-Pakistan for its ability to embrace people from all over the country; a city that serves as the country’s economic engine, and makes a major contribution towards filling up the national exchequer. It’s about time both federal and provincial authorities paid special attention towards improving the civic infrastructure of Karachi, towards building it in line with a proper master plan. As an emergency measure though, the revival of stormwater drains is a must. The citizens of Karachi, meanwhile, wait for the day the rain will truly be a blessing for them.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2020.

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