Daily Times

Clearance efforts have already taken hold as landslides triggered by torrential rains have already started suspending traffic in the north. Elsewhere Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman is reading the message written on the wall: beware! Beware! Urban flooding is here. But amid all the hullabaloo over sending distress signals to the army, putting Rescue 1122 on red alert and appearing on various prime-time transmissions, National Disaster Management Authority has very conveniently overlooked the fact that it is not just a watchdog body.

If only clanking pots and pans were its job description. Pakistan’s Meteorological Department was already giving a splendid performance. For quite some time now, monsoon season means flash flooding, grid breakdown, electrocution episodes and a shambolic breakdown of life in Pakistan. And every year, our authorities pull on their rain boots, show up for a tremendously emotional appearance before the camera and forget the elephant in the room. The drains and sewerage pipes being highlighted by Punjab’s Chief Secretary are not a one-time affair.

They need constant maintenance. So does the cobweb of wires conveniently sitting here, there and everywhere–as trigger upon a keg of kerosene; waiting for a mishap to befall them. Pre-monsoon rains are already busy wreaking havoc upon properties and farmlands across Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and much more can be anticipated in the coming days. Instead of waving arms like damsels in distress, the PDMA needs to jump to the front line with concrete evacuation plans. If our army soldiers can manage to cordon off sensitive areas and shift affectees to safe locations, so can civilian bodies that actually have a mandate for this task. Not all is yet lost.

But once the tide settles and rain gods decide to lash somewhere else, the question of whether Pakistan wishes to remain a reactive state forever should be addressed on an immediate basis. If there is no willingness to end this cart-before-the-house approach, the people could considerably benefit from slashing funds assigned for building resilience to natural disasters. Let the hysteron proteron prevail and give money to sectors ready to do their due share. Since prayers and help from uniformed personnel are our only hope, why waste time and precious resources studying the rather useless science? *