Monsoon Season

For several years now, Pakistan has been experiencing heavy rainfall during the monsoon season resulting in loss of life and business. Experts claim that due to climate change the amount of rainfall received by Pakistan has drastically increased in the past couple of years. Yet, it seems that the country is still not properly equipped to deal with the excess water, despite having had many months to prepare for it.

Speaking specifically about Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, home to at least 16 million people; received a heavy downpour in the past week causing public services to be suspended and businesses to urgently shut down due to flash flood warnings which were issued on Sunday 24th July 2022 by climate change minister Sherry Rehman. These torrential rains have caused damage to the infrastructure and have led to the deaths of at least 15 people in the city since Saturday.

Karachi received months' worth of rainfall in a matter of mere hours. More than 60 millimeters of rain poured in Karachi on Sunday night; inundating roads and partially submerging entire neighbourhoods, rendering it impossible to leave one’s home even during an emergency. The internet has been swarming with pictures of people knee-deep in standing muddy rainwater and abandoned vehicles drowning in this water. Not just the roads but people’s homes are also flooding as the homes of Karachi are not built to withstand such disastrous rains.

Experts have established that Karachi does experience heavy rainfall from July to September, increasing in frequency and intensity annually. In response to this Afia Salam, a climate change advocate in Karachi has said,

“The rapidity of these events is increasing and our response is not keeping pace. We are being reactive to individual events. Strategies need to be put in place.”

Building on this ideology, it is important to be prepared for such recurring crises beforehand. People should not have to stock up on petrol to keep their generators running during the power outage. This, coupled with the loss of phone networks and internet reception in many parts of the city, leads to instant stone ages, disconnecting people from the rest of the world.

As Karachi has recently started experiencing intense monsoon rains, the government needs to ensure the safety of the population. Not only travel and communications are rendered useless but the standing water is unsanitary and if left on the roads for long can lead to many water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid, among others. The rains can also knock down trees and electric poles causing the water to carry an electric current, highly increasing the risk of electrocution.

The strategies that are currently being implemented throughout the city are not enough. Hence, it is crucial to test out new ideas and to work hard to turn Karachi into a city that can handle the monsoon rains it receives. Starting with the drainage systems, which are not up to the mark. According to the Chief Minister of Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, there is nowhere to pump the water out, especially the underpasses in the city, which had been completely flooded earlier this month.

The risk of many problems including electrocution, transportation and the threat of an epidemic can all be greatly reduced with a better drainage system, which can handle the escalating burden of the rainfall. Therefore, it is imperative for the government and all parties responsible to focus on that main issue so that there can be some order and sense during the massive rains, to better curb the social panic.