Pakistan - Intolerable negligence

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/

The heatwave in Karachi has now claimed over 1,240 lives, with a miserably inadequate response from the government. The mortuaries have been running out of space for the dead and have not been functioning properly due to the energy crisis. Mass funerals and hasty burials were conducted for around 50 unclaimed bodies on Friday, many of them drug addicts and homeless people, who were worst affected by the hot spell. The stories that have been coming from Karachi are those of a great human tragedy. Although the weather has become cooler, people continue to die because the water and power crises have not abated. Despite repeated promises to increase electricity generation by the government, load shedding and power failures across the country keep exacerbating. The different factions of the government keep assigning blame to other parties, including the privately owned K-Electric. The failings of K-Electric aside, the government cannot absolve itself of responsibility for the massive deaths and sufferings of the people of Karachi.

The electricity and water scarcity problem in Karachi, which is causing people to die of heat stroke and dehydration, is not the government’s only failure in this crisis. The metrological department was unable to warn the people of the impending heatwave and the government was unable to initiate rescue and aid efforts to prevent the loss of hundreds of lives. No medical camps were set up, no extra water supplied and no burial facilities provided. The inability of the government to prevent the deaths of so many citizens was bound to have consequences. Opposition parties have been staging protests and even walked out of several sessions of parliament, even the one to finalise the federal budget. This catastrophe will clearly cause the PML-N’s popularity to plummet amongst the masses, slimming its chances of re-election. The argument that such an unusual weather event could not be predicted is invalid because climate change is now a globally acknowledged problem. Over 97 percent of the scientific community believes that global warming is a very real and immediate problem. While most other countries have adapted to climate change and have been able to manage freak weather incidents, like the ongoing drought in Florida, Pakistan has not caught up. It does seem like this crisis is passing, but the state is neither acknowledging its failings in managing it, nor preparing for future natural disasters. Every year the monsoon season brings floods that claim hundreds of lives and every year we are caught unprepared. We cannot avoid or delay this crisis by burying our heads in the sand. If the heatwave in Karachi has taught us anything, it is that the government needs to enhance the ability of its institutions to predict and manage crises before they arise — anything less is intolerable negligence.