JULY - AUG 2020

TRADE CHRONICLE
Karachi city ruined
by territorial rain
The heavy monsoon rains
during August have caused
significant loss to life and
property across the Sindh
provinces in general and
Karachi in particular. Traders
claim that businesses in the
rain-hit port city alone had
suffered colossal damages of
around Rs12 billion in just a few
days. People blame that rains
exposed all stakeholders in
Karachi. Country's economic
hub becomes an orphan city,
and illegal encroachment
destroyed drainage system for
personal gain.
The Karachi Chamber of
Commerce & Industry (KCCI)
a n d T h e F e d e r a t i o n o f
Chambers of Commerce &
Industry (FPCCI) have regretted
that heavy rains have inundated
the entire city and severely
damaged the roads and exposed
t h e a l r e a d y - w e a k
infrastructure. Rainwater has
entered factories, warehouses,
people's homes and caused
heavy losses to the business.
The city which contributes
around 70% of the revenues and
is the hub of Pakistan's
economy is left at the mercy of
nature and relief measures are
highly inadequate, they added.
They said it is an extraordinary
situation and requires extra
standard relief measures. They
termed this situation very
alarming and asked the Federal
and Sindh governments to
immediately and urgently take
rehabilitation measures on
firefighting basis to restore
normalcy in Karachi. They also
a p p e a l e d f o r d e v e l o p i n g
comprehensive plans to resolve
the long-standing issues of
K a r a c h i l i k e w a s t e
m a n a g e m e n t , w a t e r a n d
sewerage, mass transit system,
infrastructure and master plan.
Experts, while commenting on
the gravity of weather, suggest
that the last several years,
floods of varying intensity have
become an annual feature in
Pakistan, primarily because of
t h e c h a n g i n g c l i m a t e ,
environmental degradation and
deforestation. Similarly, urban
flooding has become a common
threat for residents of cities
owing to poor town planning
and lack of investment in
infrastructure. On top of that,
the performance of national,
p r o v i n c i a l a n d d i s t r i c t
institutions responsible for
disaster management has been
less than satisfactory when it
comes to extending relief to
affected communities and
helping in their rehabilitation.
Little has changed in this
sphere even after the creation
of disaster management bodies
at the national and provincial
levels after the devastating
Kashmir earthquake in 2005.
Several factors, such as
shortage of financial resources
to acquire machinery and
equipment needed for rescue
work, as well as lack of trained
workforce, are said to be
responsible for their poor
performance whenever disaster
strikes.
The situation demands that the
government formulate an
i n t e g r a t e d s t r a t e g y f o r
mitigating and managing
disasters like floods instead of
confining its response to just
providing relief to the affected
people, which can never be
adequate. It is time the federal
and provincial governments
moved beyond piecemeal,
isolated flood-management
measures, which have until now
been limited mostly to annual
repairs of flood-protection
embankments. The long-term
strategy should focus on
strengthening the flood forecast
system based on the extensive
use of technology — such as the
telemetry system — for more
accurate weather and flood
p r e d i c t i o n s t o p r o t e c t
vulnerable communities. That
s h o u l d b e f o l l o w e d b y
d e v e l o p i n g t h e d i s a s t e r
m a n a g e m e n t a u t h o r i t i e s '
capacity so that the unexpected
natural calamity could be
controlled effectively.
+92-2334893095 & 91
abdul.rab.siddiqi@consultants.ft.com
TRADE CHRONICLE - July .~ Aug. 2020 - Page # 08