A ray of light from dark frozen night
HUMANS are born with an instinct to improve their livelihood and discover the world. Humans have inquisitive and thrilling nature which drives them to cherish experience, search and nurture their relations with beautiful memories.
Human throughout the life stages with different patterns, factors and scenarios; all contribute and count to build an attitude and purposeful behaviour to express in community; called experience.
During the past four decades, the people of Pakistan have gone through a series of volatile situations, dynamic changes, terrorism, inflation, the increasing poverty level, decreased chances for the jobs; the people seek and do not leave any chance which may be a source of happiness and wellbeing.
A fine cold morning drew the attention of the people living at middle and southern parts of the country.
A large population of nearby areas also reach to watch snow falling and to make these moments memorable.
On 8 January 2022, the joy was at its peak, the smile was everywhere, all were glad and capturing their moments.
The tourists from various levels of life have very little knowledge about travelling in northern areas, especially during the winter season.
When, where and how nature will turn blue and scary and the smiles will turn to horrible bewails.
That dark frozen night (8 January) there was no one who was ready and well informed about the horrific storm and not well prepared with optimum knowledge and with survival kits.
The tourists must know when, where, how and what to act while travelling; To facilitate and deliver best possible services are government responsibility to ensure people that they will be in safe hands and if God forbid something happens, best possible help is there to rescue them.
For many decades, I experienced that each year we are facing many outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics as well as monsoon; each year we face floods and during winter, heavy snowfalls in northern areas.
In spite of the strong weather alarming system; we are always “Reactive approaches” this leaves many questions at community leaders and upon the Government to think and act.
A proactive approach is required to build.The Travel & Safety guidelines could save all who are no longer with their loved ones.
There are many smart innovative technologies which can be installed to keep roads open for travellers and tourists.
(i) Scientists have developed snow-melting concrete, (ii) Snow-melting machines, (iii) Electric snow melting solutions, (iv) Municipal Ice Melt Methods (v) Warm water under surface snow melting system.
Beside these melting systems, the Ministry of Tourism must start schools/college education and capacity building initiative SSN-TP student Saviour National Training Program, a specialized program to teach and train students of school and colleges about tourism, national, climate geographical variations as well as about first aid in different situations.
“A regional and area-wise rescue team of locals” must also be prepared in parallel to SSN- TP which should be connected with the Ministry of Tourism and National Disaster Management Authority to coordinate, communicate and synchronize working with provincial administration.
The Ministry of Tourism website must create an Urdu version of their website so a common man in Pakistan also gets benefitted of useful information; a central and Regional Tourism Authority must be established to control the travelling and living of tourists.
A little about safety first: before travelling one must get weather alerts and read all safety guidelines.
Keep your car window open for ventilation.Keep warm clothes to protect yourself from the cold.The hypothermia and the monoxide both are life threatening.
Suffocating in your car; People sit in their cars inside snow drifts with the engine running to stay warm, not realizing that their tailpipe has clogged up.
That forces the carbon monoxide in the exhaust back into the car, where it can quickly fill the relatively small space.
Carbon monoxide bonds to haemoglobin in your blood in the spot where oxygen normally hitches a ride, but unlike oxygen the carbon monoxide molecule doesn’t get released.
As you breathe in more carbon monoxide, fewer of your haemoglobin proteins can bind with oxygen and you slowly suffocate.
The only consolation is that you’ll pass out from lack of oxygen before you realize you’re suffocating, so at least it’s not painful.
On the other hand, carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless, which makes it difficult to know what’s happening.
If you find yourself getting sleepy while trapped in the car, it’s probably carbon monoxide poisoning.
How to avoid it: If you’re stuck in your car, get out and check that the tailpipe is clear every time you want to turn the engine back on.
We, being a developing nation, need to take remedial steps and build a proactive approach to stay safe, healthy and progressive.
May Allah bless the departed souls and give patience to their family members.
Ameen.
—The writer is a Public Health Specialist Gold Medal Innovation.
