Karachi rains: One man’s loss, another’s gain

They say one man’s trash can be another’s treasure. And, along the same lines, one man’s loss can be another’s gain.

The hapless residents of rain-battered Defence Housing Authority have been witnessing the bitter realities encapsulated in these maxims in the recent days.

As record-breaking downpours lashed the posh neighbourhood near the end of last month, houses, shops and other infrastructure suffered damage on an unprecedented scale. Scores of roofs crumbled and leaked and basements were flooded with several feet of water. The situation was not too different outside on the streets and thoroughfares.

The magnitude of the disaster became even clearer after the storm passed. Besides the obvious damage to properties and infrastructure, the rain hadn’t spared household items.

Many residents now had piles of useless items, damaged by rain. Ruined furniture, dysfunctional electronic equipment, once valuable and now spoiled carpets, rusty pots and other items all ended up on scrap dealers’ pushcarts, in exchange for peanuts.

And if not, they were handed over to domestic staff, many of whom, too, went on to sell the items off to scrap dealers.

Of those items that ended up in garbage heaps as well, scavengers sifted through the rubbish and anything they deemed remotely useful was traded off to a scrap dealer.

So, the shouts of scrap dealers, informing residents of their arrival and asking for business, as they haul their pushcarts through DHA’s streets, has become a common occurrence in the area.

But this is not it. There are earning opportunities for others too.

Most residents were forced to seek mechanics’ help to get their vehicles, impaired after the downpour, moving again. Similarly, the services of electricians, plumbers and gardeners had to be sought to fix the damaged wiring, electrical appliances and destroyed gardens and lawns.

Moreover, DHA residents had little option but to hire services for pumping water up to rooftop water tanks as sewage water continued to soil underground tanks.

Meanwhile, with the electricity supply disrupted for as many six days straight after the rain, fuel salesmen saw their businesses flourishing with more and more people buying fuel for running generators, while those renting out generators also took the opportunity to raise their rates.

Shops’ basements in commercial areas, particularly in Bukhari Commercial area and DHA Phase- VI, were also flooded, with rain ruining their stocks.

However, shop owners are now trying their best to salvage as much as they can, in a bid to minimise their losses.

Women’s garments from one of the boutiques in Bukhari Commercial Area have been shifted to a laundry for dry cleaning, following which, the shop owner said, they will be sold at a 30 per cent discount.

Their woes, though, seem set to continue for now.

According to most shopkeepers, even when they have been dewatering their properties day in and out, water continues to seep into their basements as the streets remain flooded.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2020.