The monsoon rains, second year in a row, have already devastated entire villages in various parts of Sindh and cut them off from the rest of the country. Breaches are developing that are exacerbating the flooding, for example, the Left Bank Outfall Drain, defined as the largest saline artificial waterway in Asia, has reportedly widened to 200 feet, thereby flooding more than 100 villages whose inhabitants were compelled to seek high rocks and roofs of government buildings for shelter.
The damage to infrastructure like roads has already been incalculable in the flood-affected areas. Additionally, the India's decision to release water to the Sultlej is expected to inundate Kasur. Scenes of people huddled on roof tops, women and children milling around in waist high water waiting to be rescued, livestock helplessly being carried away with the floodwaters while acres upon acres of crops are destroyed have once again hit our television screens.
These scenes, coming in the wake of frequent protests launched by the victims of last year's floods, lamenting the slowness of government assistance a year after they suffered an upheaval in their lives, raises the ugly spectre of our government's inability or as some maintain incapacity to deal with this problem.
Those who focus on the rural areas during times of floods also need to look at our towns and cities where lives come to a virtual standstill during heavy rains due to a serious lack of adequate drainage system. Several low-lying areas in Lahore, as a case in point, are inundated year after year but the government does little to beef up the drainage systems of these localities.
The question is: were some lessons learned last year? The criticism hurled against senior members of the executive for not visiting the flood-hit areas last year is patently not applicable this year. Prime Minister Gilani has already visited several flood-hit areas and President Zardari has requested for a full report on the extent of damage.
However, the policy to go bearing gifts, food and grain, to the flood victims was evident this year as it was last year. No lesson seemed to have been learned in this context because as soon as the Prime Minister left the centre, where he met with some affected people, scores of thugs came into play and were televised carrying bags full of provisions away.
There is thus a need for better management of aid distribution. And perhaps a better method would be to provide assistance to those institutions/entities which are better-placed to ensure that the weak and the vulnerable are not ignored in the process of distributing relief goods and/or compensation.
What is significant is that the Pakistan army, in possession of the necessary logistics in terms of boats, etc, would perhaps be best placed to rescue and provide relief goods to the victims. The army has already come into the picture and has begun rescue and relief operations. There are several social welfare organisations, including Edhi, who are also engaged in providing relief to the victims.
The government would be well-advised to outsource relief and rescue operations to these entities, better suited to deliver assistance at much lower cost and with greater oversight than has been evident within the civil government machinery. The government should turn its full attention towards assessing the damage, both to residents of affected areas as well as to the infrastructure, and work closely with the provinces hit by the floods to ensure that adequate resources are promptly disbursed to the affected people and areas.
It surely must have been brought home to the government by now that the monsoon is a fickle mistress - in some years it creates a drought and in other years a flood. Both cause massive disruption not only in our rural areas but also in cities.
Additionally, a bad crop year leads to lower exports and consequently lower foreign exchange reserves whose implications on the macro-economy are devastating. There is, therefore, a need for the government to begin to take measures, in consultation with the provinces, to ensure that some preventive measures are put in place before the next monsoon season.