Inexplicable procrastination

The need for an efficient disaster management body for a city the size of Karachi is self-evident. All the more so in view of the dire predictions that the country is located in a high earthquake-prone region, and that tsunami may hit its coastal areas at some point.
Apparently, it was after the shock that the devastating earthquake in Azad Kashmir, parts of the NWFP and Islamabad caused a couple of years ago, that the Sindh government decided in April 2006 to set up its own Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). The plan included securing state-of-the-art equipment for the Authority.
A sum of Rs 225 million was allocated in the current fiscal year for buying the required equipment, which included two helicopters, eight snorkels, and a modern weather warning system. The Authority was also to formulate the province's disaster management policy, and provide risk reduction training to citizens and technical assistance and advice to various organisations regarding rescue and relief operations.
Yet according to a Recorder Report no further progress has been made by the project. If things are moving, they are moving at an unnoticeable pace. Officials in the Sindh government say that so far the Authority is inactive because modern equipment needed to carry out relief and rescue operations is yet to be purchased.
Considering that the purchase of such equipment from foreign sources takes time, it is understandable if the helicopters, snorkels and weather warning system are not in place yet. That though is not the only hitch. Our report points out that even the tenders for purchase of the required items have not been floated. Worse still, PDMA is yet to be housed in its offices and assigned necessary staff. This is a case of inexcusable procrastination.
Karachi has seen several man-made disasters over the last one year or so, including the collapse of the newly built Shershah Bridge, the outbreak of fire in the PNSC building and, more recently, in a Site Area paint factory. The bridge collapse completely exposed the lack of governmental capacity to rush rescue and relief operation. For painfully long hours, people remained trapped under the debris since the rescue team did not have the right equipment for the job.
As the helpless relatives of the victims stood by, rescue workers struggled with antiquated machinery to remove the debris of what was supposed to be one of our modern infrastructure projects. In the other two instances, the fire brigades did manage to douse the fires and save people - though at least seven persons were injured in the paint factory incident - but the factory was completely gutted.
These incidents are reminders of the man-made disasters that the process of modernisation entails, and call for a corresponding preparedness. And, of course, there is always danger of a natural calamity, its probability being particularly higher in our case. Hence, those concerned must put their act together to help PDMA become functional sooner rather than later.