Prepare For the Worst

Pakistan is not alien to monsoon rains. Last year’s newspapers quoted “more than one-third of Pakistan is submerged in water and at least 33 million people are affected because of unprecedented flooding.”

Nearly a decade earlier in 2010, the newspapers quoted, “Large swaths of Pakistan were inundated by ‘super-floods’, resulting in the displacement of more than 20 million people. Experts called it one of the worst humanitarian disasters the country ever suffered.”

In 2023, the imminent danger of the monsoons has forced analysts and political leaders to look for new adjectives for similar devastation that awaits Pakistan coming July.

What is saddening is that it is not merely a result of unhealthy, irresponsible plastic use, global warming, or snow-melting. That Pakistan’s flooding is a tragic combination of corruption, mismanagement, and climate change is sad and perhaps unresolvable in the near future.

The recent theatrical play recently held at the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA), The River’s Daughter, was a fraction of the real picture, where the rural communities had lost their homes and agricultural lands, and their livelihoods, owing to floods, caused by urbanization of the rural lands, increasing the value of the land, but decreasing its productivity.

Whatever the reason may be, what has happened in the past cannot be undone. What matters the most is if we are ready for yet another monsoon rage.

Our climate challenges are as massive as they are deteriorating. According to Global Climate Risk Index 2021, Pakistan is ranked as “one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and extreme weather events, despite being one of the lowest carbon emitters in the world.”

Pakistan has experienced record heatwave this spring. Jacobabad witnessed temperatures as high as 50 Celsius/122 Fahrenheit, so it is small wonder that the country will experience extreme monsoon rains.
Are we prepared?

The government and relevant authorities usually take measures to prepare for and mitigate the potential risks associated with monsoon rains, such as implementing flood control measures, improving drainage systems, and issuing early warnings to vulnerable areas.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is responsible for disaster management in the country and works on developing strategies, and coordinating with relevant stakeholders. The organization has also established flood forecasting and monitoring systems to track rainfall patterns and river levels.

The municipal authorities in Karachi began work in some areas, such as the DHA of Karachi, digging into roads to build storm water rains. They remain dug-up, open and unclean, with no progress seen to close them. They are neither covered if the work is paused for any reason. Nor the work seems near completion by the time monsoon will have arrived.

The result is horrid, rage-inducing traffic jams, along with long, needless commute rides, to and from work.

Several drains in the North Nazimabad area were cleaned of plastic and other pollutants by an official some 3-4 months earlier, only to be polluted again by the inhabitants of the area, the very residents for whom the drains were cleaned.

The question really is not if Pakistan is prepared for the imminent danger. The real elephant in the room to be addressed is: Are we, as a nation, willing to change for our own betterment? Do we want to leave a better, livable future for our generations to come?

Economically and financially, it has set the country a decade back. We are inundated not only in water, but also in debt. We do not have the resources to rebuild – the livelihoods, the communities, the infrastructure.

A chunk of brilliant work has been done by the likes of Hadiqa Kiani and Yasmeen Lari, who have enabled the women and communities there to sustain themselves but more needs to done on a larger scale, at a national level to witness a substantial social impact.

What the country needs right now is for the corporate sector to step up and take responsibility for giving back to the society when the latter needs the most.

Moreover, the construction of flood protection infrastructure such as embankments, canals, and reservoirs, as well as early warning systems to alert communities about potential flood risks are some of the measures to be worked upon. Evacuation plans and emergency response mechanisms must be in place to assist affected populations.

One can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst, come what may.