A rare rockslide in Pakistan’s city of Karachi has hit several makeshift homes, killing 13 people including seven children, officials say. The landslide struck early on Tuesday, burying homes in Gulistan Johar district under a mass of rock and mud. Rescue workers are using mechanical tools to clear the rubble. Police and officials are investigating the cause of the landslip, including the possibility of sabotage by land grabbers, reports say. Pakistanis, in general, are moving from being a predominantly rural population living in small, self-sustaining settlements to being urbanites, working in the formal or informal economies and requiring housing and all that goes with it — drains, roads, sewers, potable water, retail outlets, schools, medical facilities and a rudimentary administration. A report from 2014 points out that 68 per cent of people, those in low-paid jobs earning between Rs8,000 and Rs30,000, were unable to own a house in the formal sense, driving them into the katchi-abadi culture. Housing development has concentrated on providing for the middle and upper classes, with affordable housing being low on the agenda of both government and private developers. Karachi is growing at around two per cent a year, meaning 360,000 more people to house annually and the vast majority are in the lower income bracket. It is clear that successive governments have failed to meet the enormous need for shelter despite the promises they make from time to time. Encroachments and attempts to grab lands in shanty towns have worsened the lives of people living there. It also seems clear that we simply do not care about the lives of those who are poor and have no real voice in our society. On Tuesday no official mechanism came to their aid for a very long time. This has happened before and there is every possibility it will happen again unless a change of attitude is brought in at the top and passed down along the line of command.
pk.shafaqna.com
