EDITORIAL: Once again the federal as well as provincial governments are going to be tested to the limit as the rather heavy rainy season is showing no signs of abating, rivers are overflowing their banks, and the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) has issued a significant warning for the northern parts of the country, predicting 'heavy to very heavy rainfall in catchment areas of River Kabul along with hill torrents of Dera Ghazi Khan division'. Water gushing down the mountains at terrifying speed and causing flash floods that can wipe out entire localities and destroy infrastructure very quickly is the last thing Pakistan needs right now. For one thing, it is already pretty clear that the country just does not have the capability to deal with rains and flood-related problems in a timely or effective manner, which is why the potential loss of life and property cannot be calculated properly yet. For another, even if authorities were somehow able to evacuate enough people and protect enough infrastructure in time to prevent any substantial losses, the economic impact of all the dislocation and disruption would still be immense. Just last week the threat of floods at several points along the Chenab and Jehlum rivers prompted rescue teams to evacuate a good 872 people, along with their belongings, to safe areas.

And on top of all this things in Karachi, large parts of which are still under water even days after record rainfall hit the port city, are set to get even worse as authorities have warned of another weather system hovering over Sindh. That, of course, only increases the likelihood of more rains over the next 48 to 72 hours. It seems people there, after suffering days of power outages, severe restrictions to even emergency movement, sewage on the streets, inside homes and in water tanks, and breakdown of cellphone services, can only hope to receive more of the same in the coming days. And though a very large number of homes has been flooded and businesses forced to shut down, the situation in the slums and the lot of the very poor has been particularly painful. Cramped living conditions in such areas have ensured that literally all livable space is submerged and daily-wagers, especially, cannot hope to just swim to somewhere and find waiting work so they are worried about the prospect of hunger, starvation as well as disease.

That saddest part of all this is that even though all the devastation from rains and floods is an annual certainty in Pakistan, we still do not have a modern flood warning system because nobody ever thought of getting some proper weather forecast radars for timely prediction of floods. Instead, the country relies on what experts now call old techniques to try and predict rain and flood patterns. Since, quite clearly, our preferred methods are not proving and have not proved very useful, and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also pointed out in its National Monsoon Contingency Plan 2020 that the country "still does not have an effective aviation system to deal with flood disasters and other catastrophes," perhaps it's finally time for the government to consider getting us some of these gadgets because we certainly need to be as well prepared every year as possible.

One can only imagine what pain people who lose loved ones and precious belongings in these disasters must feel when they find out that things might not have been so bad if the government had only given some thought to prevention. After all it's for a reason that they say 'the man who is prepared has his battle half fought'. To lose a battle, that too so badly, just because one was not prepared enough is simply unforgivable. Now they can put up relief camps and distribute food, etc., till people are able to return to their normal lives, whenever that might be, and spend whatever is required for the whole thing but the same effort and money utilised in a timely manner and in the right direction could, rather would, have yielded better results. Therefore, even as the federal and provincial governments trade accusations on prime time TV they must realise that they have both let the people down, who over time were left with no option but to accept things as they were. The time for talk and blame is over and those in power must now demonstrate that they can overcome their own political differences for the good of the people and the country and do what is needed to make sure that rains and floods never cause such damage again.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020