Engulfed by the angry Indus

If villagers claim that there are not enough rescue boats, let the authorities correct this concern.

Reading about the floods in Pakistan every summer has become the norm for the past few years. This year is no different. Citizens across all parts of the country are stricken with tragedy — the tragedy of having their homes and villages engulfed by the angry Indus River. According to the National Disaster Management Authority, nearly one million people — 931,074 in exact figures — have been impacted by the rising waters and heavy flooding. At least 139 lives have been taken, not including loss of cattle and other livestock, and another 804 people have been wounded. Digging deeper into the statistics, 13,262 houses have been destroyed and 3,826 entire villages have been devastated. This is a tragedy befalling people all over the country and the failure of the government in taking appropriate precautions is evident.

The continued lack of preparedness by our authorities is going to result in greater losses of lives year after year. In 2010, this lack of preparedness cost the country greatly in terms of human life (1,800 people), livestock and natural resources. Even these gargantuan losses, by which 21 million people were affected, were ashamedly not enough to prompt our authorities to take major steps to mitigate future flood disasters. News updates only inform us what officials said or instructed another department to do but seldom inform us what actions officials have actually put in place already. Year after year, citizens across the country have to deal with flooding, massive property damage and vehicle damage due to broken roads and massive potholes post-rains.

Where human life is concerned, however, it is never too late to establish safety measures. If villagers and riverbank residents claim that there are not enough rescue boats, let the authorities correct this concern. Other villagers complain their cattle are inflicted with disease, making it imperative that disease control measures also be explored for both humans and livestock. Finally, better long-term planning is required for future monsoon seasons, to stop flooding. Until these steps are taken, the monsoon rains, which some pleasantly look forward to in this otherwise arid climate, will soon only become dark clouds for those who have to suffer heavy losses every season.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2013.

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