Rain Havoc

By Amir Zia
The News
September 15, 2011

This annual rain mess in Karachi remains a management disaster, reflecting the lack of planning, vision and indifference of successive governments, which have collectively failed to give this city even a proper drainage system

“We live in Karachi in a world removed from reality... For instance, it is our conviction that it does not rain in Karachi. That it has never rained in Karachi. That it will never rain in Karachi. Everything in this city is anchored to this conviction. The roads, the drainage systems, power, telephone and telegraph cables... Despite our bravado, we are, I feel, victims of a misunderstanding with nature. For it is not at all true that it does not rain in Karachi. And when it does, it pours. The roads are flooded, some are washed away. Power fails. Telephones do not work. Cars and buses are stranded... This happens every time it rains in Karachi.”

Omar Kureishi, one of the finest journalists, writers and broadcasters of his times, wrote these lines more than five decades ago for a publication called “Pakistan Standard”. It is part of Kureishi’s first book – Black Moods, published in 1955. If this article, titled “Rain” were reproduced with the omission of a few lines on the sufferings of refugees in the downpour, it would seem as if the late writer penned his thoughts in today’s Karachi.

Yes, when it comes to rain and its aftermath, not much has changed in Karachi since the early 1950s – we see submerged roads, stranded vehicles, open manholes, overflowing gutters and broken power cables. And we see the callous attitude of the country’s high and mighty and the sufferings of commoners who dangle from buses in heavy rain and wade their way for miles through knee-deep water to reach their homes. The unfortunate ones die when they step on a snapped power cable or an open sewer, while the fortunate ones arrive home to narrate their ordeal with a sense of pride. For, now being safe in Karachi is also an achievement.

If in the 1950s, the McLeod Road and the Drigh Road used to get inundated, in 2011, their fate has not changed despite the change of names to I I Chundrigar Road and Sharae Faisal. In fact, the situation is now even worse thanks to population explosion and manifold increase in the traffic.

Most major roads and streets of the city – whether new or old – have been flooded with rain and sewerage water with only up to a maximum of 140 millimetres of rain in some parts of the city in two days. This is hardly a downpour to deluge a city and cripple normal business and industrial life. But in Karachi it does.

Representatives of industry, business and trading communities say that they suffered accumulated losses worth billions of rupees in lost working hours and due to the fact that rainwater immersed many of their warehouses, shops and factories.

The same roads and areas get flooded in rains year after year even in the main commercial and business districts of the city and where government offices and buildings are located. Even Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry got a taste of Karachi rains when his car got stuck in the water. He had to abandon his vehicle and take another to reach the Supreme Court.

Can one get away by calling the rain havoc in Karachi a natural disaster? No, definitely not. This annual rain mess in our city remains a management disaster, reflecting the lack of planning, vision and indifference of successive governments, which have collectively failed to give Karachi even a proper drainage system.

The city, which contributes almost 68 percent to the country’s revenue collection, always lurches back to normalcy on its own and the resilience of its citizens rather than steps taken by rulers to alleviate their sufferings.

Poor governance, clash of petty interests, a confused mindset and corruption are manifested at every level. The empowered local governments can help resolve the festering civic problems in a far better way, but we have turned them into a controversial political issue. We continue to debate and argue over the merits and demerits of the system and keep changing its laws. The lack of centralised command in Karachi is also responsible for most of its civic problems. There are seven cantonment boards, which operate independent of the city district government. This is the greatest obstacle in taking a holistic approach for the development and planning of the city and its infrastructure.

The rain havoc could have been mitigated if the local authorities had taken the trouble of dredging the sewerage and storm water lines in time and removed encroachments blocking the natural and manmade waterways. But we are more tuned to shedding crocodile tears after every mishap brought about by our own doings.

Veterans like Kureishi have written a mountain of words. Minor writers like me continue to add to the pile after every rain. But there are many unpleasant issues and topics which never change in this land of the pure. And one of these constants for this generation – as it was for Mr Kureishi’s – and perhaps for the future ones too, is the crumbling and non-functioning drainage system.

The rainwater will subside in the coming days and the sun will shine again. Life will be as normal as it can get in a city like Karachi, but come another rainy season and it will be the same old grind.