LAHORE: The historic site of Mohenjo-daro remained as dry as a bone amidst unprecedented floods across Sindh where hundreds of graveyards are still in deluge, said sources from Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
The PMD officials are wondering over the phenomenon, saying that a minimum of four feet to a maximum of 12 feet high floods had hit major portion of Sindh but still the foothill of the historic site was designed in a way that it remained intact despite all the odds. They said graveyards were not only inundated but also covered under the soil carried by the floods there and people have lost graves of their dear ones once and for all, but not the historic site of Mohenjo Daro.
It may be noted that the areas like Pad Eden had witnessed 1700 millimeter rain during the current monsoon against the traditional 25 millimeter in the past. The province had never witnessed such a huge quantity of rain in the past. Even, not 50 percent of the current level has ever occurred there. The PMD officials said 500 times more rains took place in Sindh where no such occurrence was available in the recorded history of the country. At certain places, there were even 1000 times more rains during the current monsoon. The PMD officials said the rooftops houses have seldom erected drainage pipes because of negligible rains in the past.
Mohenjo-daro is an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2500 BCE, it was the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, and one of the world’s earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico. Mohenjo Daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s. Significant excavation has since been conducted at the site of the city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, the first site in South Asia to be so designated.
The PMD sources said the composition as well as landscape of the whole of the province has been changed but this historic site has kept itself intact. The flood fighting plan of the historic site is excellent, as the planner had diverted the strength of water flow out of River Indus.
Ejaz Tonio, in charge of PMD sub-office at Mohenjo Daro airport, was quoted as saying that the flood had submerged his office as well as the airport but it could not touch the level of the historic site, what to talk of the ruins of the site.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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