WHENEVER monsoon season sets in, there is always threat of flooding in our country mainly because our authorities have learnt nothing from past disasters as how efficiently to manage them. Rains have wreaked havoc in twenty one districts of Balochistan and Karachi with fourteen people killed there on Saturday in rain related incidents.
The situation could further deteriorate, as there is forecast of more rains especially in Balochistan province where dams have started overflowing due to persistent rain over the last few days. Situation in Karachi is not different where so far seventeen people have lost their lives due to electrocution and drowning. In the current situation, it is for federal government to come forward for the support of provincial governments to speed up rescue and relief activities. At this stage number one priority should be saving lives and then helping affected families in their rehabilitation by providing them suitable resources. As regards Karachi, there is an immediate need to fix the longstanding issue of choking drains and remove encroachments along these waterways to avert urban flooding. Most importantly, the issue of monsoon flooding needs to be looked into a holistic manner. Pakistan is regarded as one of the worst country from climate change, it is time to rethink traditional flood management approach and look at contemporary ways of mitigating risks and make productive use of rainwater. It is time to act now to protect lives and economy from worst impacts of floods.
Federal and provincial governments must sit together and prepare a multi disciplinary master plan to address this issue on permanent basis. Latest early warning systems should be deployed at district level in additional to other disaster risk reduction activities. Provincial and District level disaster management authorities should be made fully functional by imparting relevant training to staff beside providing financial and operational autonomy to make them worthy of their responsibilities.
