While the state appears satisfied with just sounding the alarm bells from a safe distance (punctuated by a few camera appearances), the ongoing brutal monsoon season is in no mood to tune down the ferociousness. As many as 50 villages have been engulfed, the casualties are fast galloping towards the 500-mark and the infrastructure is gasping for air after being battered by unprecedented rainfall for over five weeks.
From the hilly terrain of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to remote regions of Balochistan to the country’s largest city, Karachi, no one can find cover anywhere and amid a forecast of “above-normal” rainfall throughout August, Punjab would soon join the heavily-hit squad. That the sitting government should have been cautious enough to open its eyes to the storm heading for its alleys much, much earlier would be an understatement. What has gone down across Pakistan is a textbook case of skewed priorities and criminal neglect.
Thousands of people in Balochistan have lost their loved ones, homes and belongings to floods caused by heavy rains in the province. Social media is rife with heart-wrenching visuals where people can be seen taking dead bodies out of water. It is shocking that during this terrible situation, where helpless people drowned to death, the provincial government remained oblivious to people’s suffering.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has claimed that over 100 people in the province have lost their lives, more than 6,000 houses have been damaged, and 3,000 houses have been completely destroyed by the flash floods since June 1. Addressing a press conference on July 28, Chief Secretary Balochistan Abdul Aziz Uqaili said, “thousands of people have been injured and around 50,000 people have been affected. Besides, around 200,000 acres of land has also been affected.”
While it is true that this year’s monsoon rains have broken the 30-year average, it is unfortunate that the Balochistan government could not devise a substantial plan to counter the destruction caused by the floods at the earliest and save the lives of the poor living in mud houses in both rural and urban areas. Despite knowing the possibility of heavy rainfall weeks before, the authorities come into action only after floods drowned hundreds of people and swept away thousands of houses.
Besides the government’s negligence, it is quite unfortunate to say that mainstream media could not give due coverage to the ongoing floods in the province. People were rendered homeless, sleeping under an open sky with nothing to eat, but the electronic media was busy discussing the never-ending political circus. It failed to raise the issue on time so that lives could have been saved on time.
Apart from the provincial government’s incompetence, it also lacks the capacity to tackle such a huge calamity. So, it is apparently beyond its capability to reach out to affected people in far-off regions in a situation where communication networks are overflowed by the floods.
Keeping in view the seriousness of the situation, the federal government should extend support to the people of Balochistan and work in collaboration with the provincial government and other non-governmental organizations to keep people save from further disaster.
The provincial government should also consider installing proper sanitation systems in urban areas and developing an all-time weather-friendly infrastructure across the province. It must take steps to provide relief in terms of food and shelter and financial assistance to all affected people.
Shafaqana Pakistan
pakistan.shafaqna.com
