EDITORIAL: National and provincial disaster authorities (NDMA and PMDAs) have been given the usual directives to stay alert, vigilant and prepared in light of the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMDs) warning of heavier and earlier monsoon rains this year, but such warnings have sadly not done much to improve their performance in the past.
The problem is that once the rains stop and water recedes, everybody goes right back to violating all the protocols, especially in urban areas, and most crucial tributaries and drains are choked all over again, mostly with garbage that is not disposed of properly.
There’s also the fact that DMAs are not really active much of the rest of the year. And even when the rains come and cause urban flooding in some parts of the country, these authorities are paralysed just like the people they are supposed to help, despite adequate budgets, training and the sure knowledge of similar problems around the same time every year.
And then when the military has to be called in to do the work that civilian agencies exist for, as usual, they are able to unblock drains, clear roads and restore some semblance of normal life within a day or two; which goes to show that it is possible if done the right way.
The most important thing to do right now, though, is to soften the impact of the blow that is just round the corner. There have already been unfortunate incidents of deaths in Sindh and KP, and landslides in parts of Gilgit-Baltistan that have left a number of roads blocked and travellers stuck and vulnerable to more rains.
The task is particularly hard this year because, despite the unusually hot and dry spell that preceded the rains, the downpour is expected to be stronger and also last much longer. Therefore, it would be a good idea not just for the government but also the people to ration food and fuel supplies ahead of time, especially in the periphery that will not be easily reachable in case of flooding, which would be a very real possibility.
The extraordinary floods of 2010 may be more than a decade in the past, but they’re still very fresh in the memories of people that suffered and lost loved ones and their life’s savings because of them.
The main problem for most households, especially in far off areas, is that the ongoing run-in with very high inflation has left very few families with the ability to procure extra supplies to ride out the rainy season, especially in places where flooding is expected. That makes the government’s job even more difficult. It must identify and reach out to as many such pockets of population as possible before it becomes too difficult to get there. And since the government is itself pretty starved of cash, and also forced to survive on loans and debt, pre-emptive action is not exactly its forte at the moment.
One can only hope that the paralysis that has gripped the country’s politics over the last year or so did not impact the bureaucracy and its ability to deal with emergency situations; not that it was up to scratch even in the best of times. Let’s not forget that DMAs exist for one express purpose, and that is to deal with emergencies. And while a lot of them cannot always be foreseen or predicted, the monsoon season is on the calendar every year. Yet so far there hasn’t been one instant where these authorities did not disappoint with their preparedness or response.
Will this year be different just because the Met office added to their own knowledge that hard rains, and possibly flooding in urban areas, are on the way?
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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