Another deadly monsoon

The fact that 77 innocent lives were lost in just the first wave of the monsoon rains that lashed different parts of the country last week shows how inept and ill-prepared the authorities really are to deal with the situation. It also indicates that the stakeholders are far from ready to understand the true scale and scope of climate change and have mistaken the cleaning of nullahs as the only viable solution to a crisis that is global in nature. This enthusiasm too slowly dies down after the end of the monsoon season and we are back to square one the following year.

That monsoon showers occurred earlier than expected is no excuse as deaths are the result of problems that persist due to sheer negligence and mismanagement of relevant organisations. Last week saw a staggering 87% increase in the average monsoon downpour, with Balochistan and Sindh witnessing 274% and 261% more rainfall respectively. Existing mitigation and rescue measures are outdated in the face of these unprecedented rains. The calamity has highlighted a serious need to move from a reactionary approach to a precautionary one. This means that predictions of future climate events must be made and tackled systematically beforehand. But such resilient measures can only be taken if we move beyond simple problems that continue to persist. Blocked nullahs, broken roads, open manholes and live wires have resulted in avoidable deaths during the rainy season. The first and foremost priority should be to avoid deaths and then to save lives.

Development must take place during the rest of the year to weaken the impact of the monsoon. For this, provincial building regulatory authorities must be tasked to identify weak infrastructure while municipal corporations must ensure that nullahs are redesigned to withstand the capacity of rainwater. Once we move beyond this, researchers, urban planners, administrators, environmentalists and all other stakeholders must come together to develop new mitigation mechanisms that accounts for contemporary literature regarding monsoon rains under the overarching banner climate change.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2022.

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