At least six people — all teens and twenty-somethings — drowned over the weekend in entirely preventable incidents around the Hawke’s Bay area of Karachi. Estimates suggest another 20 people died in the city in recent rain-related drowning incidents, while over 130 recent deaths have been reported in Balochistan alone, and several more in other parts of the country.
Although local administrations have done a relatively good job recovering victims’ bodies and distributing compensation, the high death tolls and continuing frequency of such incidents exposes the criminal negligence of officials who have failed to make cities and towns more rain resistant or to improve monitoring of popular waterfront areas.
Elected governments — regardless of which party is in power — have always been quick to point to flash floods in major foreign cities such as New York and Dubai, or the situation during the tenures of their political rivals. But they always duck the question of what they are doing to improve the situation here, along with the fact that the same foreign cities also drain excess rainwater in a matter of hours, rather than days. This is because, while disastrous floods can occur anywhere if an unusual amount of rain comes down or a waterway breaches, the existence of reliable drainage means that the water will disappear relatively quickly, and everyday life can resume. This is not by accident — city managers must plan and invest accordingly. And while cost considerations are a fact with some solutions that our politicians bring up, basic infrastructure is not prohibitively expensive. Flood pools and simple drains require minimal materials and labour, and only a little maintenance once they are ready for use. Meanwhile, making waterfronts safer is only a matter of better utilising existing resources and spreading awareness through schools and colleges. All these solutions require is a bit of planning. Unfortunately, even that appears to be too much to ask.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2022.
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