Near-yearly event

People make preparations for rainy days, more so if they become a frequent visitor. But year after year the authorities seem to be caught unawares by heavy rains and floods. In recent past in Pakistan, it has been a cycle of heat and dry season to be followed by abnormal torrential rains and floods. All this has been happening as a result of the unrelenting march of climate change. What the inescapable reality of climate change demands is preparedness in advance to face the calamitous situation being repeated year after year.

Sindh faced devastating floods in 2010 and 2011, and this year too it is facing devastations brought about by floods. The provincial government has declared 20 districts calamity-hit. On Monday, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah inspected the river situation at Guddu and Sukkur barrages during an aerial survey. At these places the Indus River is in high spate. He said that since this year Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab as well as India witnessed heavy rains and floods, around 600,000 cusecs of water was to pass through the Indus. Many people have been displaced from river beds. They left their flooded homes carrying their cattle and whatever belongings they could salvage. The CM assured those displaced from river beds of all support from his government. He informed the media that committees had been set up to monitor the day-to-day situation at Guddu and Sukkur barrages, and expressed fears that this year the province was likely to witness devastation similar in scale to that witnessed in 2010 and 2011.

Bilawal Bhutto, the PPP Chairperson, began a three-day tour of flood-hit areas of Mirpurkhas district on Monday. Other dignitaries too have visited and are planning to visit the flood-affected areas. Protocols for them involve heavy expenditure. This money could well be spent on providing relief to the calamity-hit people. Floods are acts of nature, but flood losses are largely acts of man.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.