NDMA role in Karachi

The National Disaster Management Authority is intended to move in and launch operations when disasters strike. It has been entrusted by the prime minister to clean Karachi’s storm drains where civic infrastructure has collapsed. The lawlessness and chaos have left Karachi in crack. NDMA workforce, FWO, started work cleaning Gujjar nullah, one of the city’s main storm drains, on Monday, taking out tonnes of mud that had chocked the free flow of water and followed in horrific urban flooding in parts of the city during heavy rainfall at the end of previous month. A new heavy rainfall has been predicted by the meteorologist in the city later this week, which clarifies the federal government’s urgency to get the drains cleaned.
It may be somewhat a relief that some realization has been taken at the government level to save Karachi from further rain-related suffering; coming around federal agencies served to be stationed in emergencies is only a temporary action. It is shameful that largest commercial city has a merely functioning local government, community see at such unplanned moves as the only solution. It is unfortunate and shameful that Karachi is responsible for this sad state of affairs. The government over more than ten years gradually had taken away nearly all the powers of the local government, particularly keeping water, sewage and solid waste under its authority. The KMC does not appear to be specifically to be aggressive in using whatever powers remain with it. Regardless of whether federal agencies take the initiative of clean-up operations, or particularly the Sindh government foreign donor-funded civic projects, all these proceeds will collapse until such time there is an elected, authorized local government in place that can improve and maintain Karachi as part of its religious duty.
NDMA initiates working on cleaning Karachi’s nullahs. Heavy machines are being used by the teams engaged in cleaning the drains, to lift the rubbish and shift it to the city’s dumping ground sites. A slight number of days after PM Imran Khan’s order the National Disaster Management Authority went into aggressive action on Monday and started clearing the city’s mullahs in Karachi. NDMA teams and the Frontier Works Organization reached Gujjar nullah to clear the nullahs in the city before the fourth spell of rain is predicted to strike Karachi later this week. Heavy machines are being utilized by the teams engaged in cleaning the drains, to lift the rubbish and transfer it to the city’s junkyard places. Prime minister’s orders had come after the reports of deaths, electrocution and submerge roads came from the city succeeding heavy rain last week. Chairman NDMA had stated that corps of Pakistan Army had also been tasked to work alongside NDMA and FWO teams to give relief to the people from floods. He stated that efforts were underway to form accord among all associates, comprising the federal and provincial governments and their pertained departments. He said that after the recent damaging rains in Karachi, he had been requested by Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Karachi to hold meetings with associates in the city. He had engaged in three meetings with the Sindh chief minister and during one of these meetings, Karachi’s Corps Commander was also present. The Corps Commander also held two isolated meetings with the chief minister. Karachi corps requested to take measure for disaster lessening for approaching rains. He mentioned the next rain system was expected to enter Karachi on August 7 and it would start diminishing on August 9 while another rains was anticipated on August 15. Up to 83mm of rain Karachi during the recent downpour, poorly affected the sewerage system and nullahs already working beyond their size. It was necessary to know Karachi’s problems to find out a permanent solution to the problem. About 20,000 tonnes of solid waste was gathered in Karachi on a daily basis and out of it only three to four thousand tonnes were picked up by the people to recycle it for practical purposes. He said the solid waste was a rise of revenue across the world, but in case of Karachi it had turned out to be an enormous problem requiring immediate attention for resolution. The population of Karachi had expanded massively over the past thirty years. He mentioned encroachments along nullahs of the Karachi city was another challenge, decelerating cleaning endeavor of the departments concerned. Sewerage water was treated all over the universe before its entry to the main sewerage system, but it was not realized in Karachi and this had led to settling down of heavy mud thereby blocking the whole system. A long-term scheme for Karachi was not likely before these problems were solved. In the next stage is to generate concurrences on all challenges to solve Karachi’s sewerage problems forever. If the agreement was developed in the next three to four months, work would commence for a lasting solution. About distribution of work for immediate disaster reduction the Frontier Works Organisation had been given the work of guaranteeing cleaning of large nullahs such as Gujjar Nullah, Cantonment Board Nullah and the Nullah in District West. He mentioned it was better to shun blaming at each other and work as a team to provide relief to the Karachi people during the rainy season.