The incident highlights the dangers and difficulties associated with living in informal housing. PHOTO: AFP
A torn teddy bear stares out from amongst the rubble. It lies next to a golden cupboard, which probably held the treasures accumulated by a poor man through a lifetime of toils. The man is no more. Thirteen lives are no more.
They were buried beneath a huge rock that fell on three shanties set up on an empty plot in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 1. The families had been living at the plot for the last 10 years, until that fateful night when the world came crashing down on them as they slept. Seven of the 13 victims were children.
It was around 1:30am when Khalil saw a thick layer of earth sliding from the Murli Hills. Khalil's shanty is located in the plot next to the ill-fated one. Soon after, small and medium- sized stones fell from the hill.
Read: Seven children among 13 killed in Karachi's landslide
He shouted out, attempting to alert his neighbours to the looming threat. "God knows what kind of deep sleep they were in because no one responded," he said, adding that 15 minutes later, a huge portion of the hillock fell on the huts. "There was dust everywhere and we couldn't see anything," he recalled. "I shouted for help, but nothing could be done until the dust settled."
Too late to the rescue
The inability of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and District Municipal Corporation East to effectively respond to an emergency was exposed once again, as no vehicle of either municipality could reach the scene until at least two hours after the incident.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Khalil said that the moment the dust settled a bit, they rushed to help the victims and started digging earth and stones with their bare hands. The Rangers and ambulance services were the first to reach the scene. They were, however, quite helpless in the face of the rock that had crushed the shanties. "Moving that rock was beyond human capacity," said Khalil. The most important equipment, the KMC’s heavy machinery, only came two hours after the landslide. "Had the rescue work started on time, these lives could have been saved," he added.
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Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, who was the first official to reach the scene, reasoned that because the site was located quite off the main road, the KMC's heavy vehicles took time to reach.
On the other hand, the KMC's senior municipal director, Masood Alam, and the administrator of DMC East, Rahmatullah Shaikh, did not respond to repeated calls.
Blame game
As is the norm with every such incident in the port city, the blame game had already started between the various government departments even before the dust settled. The point of contention, this time, was regarding the ownership of the fateful plot of land.
The Karachi Development Authority's (KDA) additional director for land, Nadeem Siddiqui, admitted that the whole of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 1 was under their control.
The plot where the fateful incident occurred is also owned by the KDA and has been leased to a private person, admitted Siddiqui. The director added, however, that builders have encroached the land and started cutting the mountains.
"Those who have been leased 600-yard plots have built structures on 800 yards, encroaching a part of the hill after cutting it," he said, blaming Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) for giving no-objection certificates to such constructions.
The SBCA's deputy controller for Gulshan Town, Asif Rizvi, refused to comment on the issue. The board's Gulshan Town director, Iqbal, however, blamed the KDA for the allotments.
Read: Katchi Abadi case: SC for concrete plans for slums
Commissioner's committee
Meanwhile, Siddiqui has formed a four-member committee to investigate the incident. Deputy Commissioner East, Asif Jan Siddiqui, will head the committee, which will give its report on Wednesday. The commissioner has also issued a notification, banning all construction work in the hilly areas. "No sort of building plan will be approved in the hilly areas," said a press release issued by the commissioner's office on Tuesday evening.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2015.
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