aftermath postrain No
peace for the dead Water,
water everywhere, but nowhere to go Karachiites
pay the price for 'ill-planning'
Rains versus drains Severe rains on the night of July 18 exposed all the loopholes in the city's infrastructure. Officials and authorities continue to play the blame game once again holding each other responsible for the failure By Saad Hasan Rain lashed Karachi with full intensity on the night of July 18. Lives were lost, cars swept off the roads, towns flooded and people stuck indoors. But, civic life should not have paralysed even for few hours as there are plenty of drains in the city to drain out the water. But years of neglect and ill-planning has choked the storm-water drainage system of Pakistan's biggest city. Houses, shopping centres, government buildings and even mosques have sprouted up on these drains. There are 41 open rainwater drains which crisscross different towns to end up at the Lyari and Malir rivers, which ultimately fall into the Arabian Sea. Some of these drains like Gujjar Nullah are natural channels, having their own water catchments. Masood Alam, Executive District Officer Municipal Services of the city government, says that rampant encroachments over the years have reduced the width of these drains. "Manzoor Colony Drain is 200 feet wide when it starts from Mehmoodabad. It shrinks to just 24 feet by the time it reaches sea through Phase 8 of Defence." Across the city, the situation is the same from Pitcher Drain in Saddar to Chakor Nullah in Shah Faisal Town. Land on both sides of these drains has been occupied by residential buildings. More than half of Karachi's 12 million inhabitants live in slums. The sewage from these areas also makes its way into the open drains. "This is the reason why these storm water drains are never dry," Alam says. The same is the case with the Gujjar Nullah – a major drain catering to eight towns as well as acting as the drain for two underpasses at Ghareebabad and Liaquatabad. However, the 14-kilometre long Nullah, which runs through four towns, from New Karachi Town to Lyari River, has a huge number of encroachments, along, and, in some cases, on it. The drain, which was originally about 200 feet wide, has been reduced in some places to 15 feet. On the night of July 18, when the heavens opened up, releasing over 177 mm of rain in the span of mere hours, not only did the two underpasses get flooded, but the drains of all the towns that drain out into Gujjar Nullah got flooded resulting in stagnant water at many roads despite the presence of drains. Financial and human resource constraints of the city government have added to the problem. Every day 9,000 tons of solid waste is produced. Only 3,000 tons is properly lifted; much of the rest is disposed in Nullahs. The sludge of plastic bags and garbage which accumulates over these Nullahs is not easy to clean. So much has been dumped into drains that there now exists a solid sedimentary base. "It is practically impossible to clean all the drains," Alam claims. Removing the encroachments is not easy. Ethnicity and different political parties holding sway in the illegal settlements come in the way. Any action in Orangi Town will turn Mohajirs against the MQM. If taken against Punjabis in Golden Town there will be complaints of victimisation. Irtiza Farooqi, Shah Faisal Town Nazim, knows what could happen in diversified localities. "You will find people from around Pakistan here. They live in clusters. Each one of them has their own settlement and their own reservations. It is not easy to deal with such a situation." Prolonged power breakdowns, water shortage and rising awareness about basic rights through media have made it all the more easy for political opponents to use the people's anger against each other. Farooqi, a MQM leader, has faced the music. "A religious party set up banners against me in encroached areas along Green Town Nullah. People started holding me responsible for every problem. They think I have stopped sweepers from cleaning or restricted development funds. No one questioned the local Union Council councilors." Multiple government institutions have their own jurisdictions in the city. DHA, cantonments and Karachi Port Authority operate independently. They allot lands, allowing constructions and undertake development projects. All this should have been helpful for a resource-strapped city government. But, it has multiplied the problems. Concrete structures have been built on vital drains in complete disregard of the city's planning. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) manages Karachi airport, which has vast open ground around the runway that serves as a bowl for collection of rain water. In its endeavour for development, the CAA has leased plots to a hyper market chain but it forgot to lay drainage lines. Right outside the airport, along Sharea Faisal stands Falaknaz Apartments, encroached upon another Nullah. On a fateful Saturday night when the skies showered 177 millimetres of rains in just two hours, water gushed out from the CAA precincts and flooded streets in Shah Faisal Town. "What really upsets me is that there is no accountability of these organisations," Farooqi says. "So much happened but no one from the CAA bothered to come and discuss matters over." A lot needs to be done in terms of coordination. The rift is apparent even between the civic agencies. Karachi Building Control Authority conveniently blames the revenue department and town administrations for all the encroachments. Manzoor Qadir, Chief Controller KBCA, says that building authorisation is granted to only those structures which have been cleared by city government departments. "Town administrations lease out their land, revenue department vets it whereas our role of checking conformation to rules comes in the last." He is upset over constant criticism of the KBCA for failing to check encroachments. "KESC gives them electricity, SSGC arranges gas and KWSB allows water connections. Are we the only one to be questioned?" In times when mob attack on public and private property is common, it can be tough to enforce laws especially building regulations. "Nobody can see his home being demolished. Two of my men were killed last year in Ramswami, Old Town when they went to inspect an illegal construction." Recent rains have exposed the vulnerabilities of the infrastructure. Roads, underpasses, expressways and parks built during the last few years will be ruined without a working drainage system. "There is an immediate need to resettle people from the encroached areas," says Abdul Rasheed, EDO Works and Services. "That is the only way we can ensure that drains keep working." It is the responsibility of the union councilors to start preparing people from such areas for the worst times ahead. "The weather pattern is changing. We must prepare ourselves for heavy rains otherwise consequences could be severe, warns Rasheed.
Rain drowns out the KESC By Azeem Samar The torrential rain of July 18, 2009, among other miseries for Karachiites, brought about a virtual complete power breakdown in the city. The power supply halted on two accounts: the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) was cut from its link to the National grid at Jamshoro and its own transmission and distribution systems were seriously battered by the downpour. For several concerned quarters in the city, the June 17 massive power blackout and the widespread power outages in the aftermath of July 18 rain exposed well the weaknesses of the generation, transmission, and distribution systems of the KESC. But this time the difference was clear: on June 17, power supply was completely restored to almost the entire city within 20 hours of the breakdown but after the blackout of July 18, electricity could not be restored in the affected areas even after passage of 100 hours causing untold miseries to thousands of citizens. The resultant situation was too volatile for the city as several of its affected localities were rattled with violent power protests. The KESC Chief Operating Officer (COO)-Distribution, Syed Jan Abbas Zaidi while speaking to Kolachi claimed that after the July 18 breakdown, within a span of a few hours 60 per cent of the city was up and running but there remained pockets where power could not be supplied due to tripping and faults. Once the KESC re-established its link with the national grid after a gap of eight hours on the morning of July 19, the utility was able to supply electricity to a few localities. Whereas in rest of the city, the entire system of transmission lines, grid stations, substations, feeders, pole-mounted transformers and low-voltage wire systems was non-functional due to heavy rain accompanied with gusty winds. As a result, power could not be supplied to various areas till the system got fully restored. "The KESC have the required power backup and support for its system but its leadership lacked the necessary technical and professional skills to supply electricity to the affected areas," General Secretary of the KESC Shareholders' Association, Choudhary Mazhar told Kolachi. "The power supply system of the KESC has become seriously saturated and overloaded, so much so that it develops widespread tripping during every event of rain," Syed Tanzeem Hussain Naqvi, former managing-director of the KESC told Kolachi. He said that the KESC did not have spare cables, joints, and material to cope with the post-rain emergency situation. The post-rain power situation also disrupted activities in industrial areas. "It took around six days for the KESC to fully restore electricity in the industrial areas. The industries suffered heavily during this period owing to obsolete and faulty system of the KESC," said Mian Zahid Hussain, chairman of Korangi Association of Trade and Industry. The KESC Chief of Distribution Syed Jan Abbas Zaidi told Kolachi that the power utility had "learnt a lot of lessons" in the wake of July 18 breakdown and has been bringing about several improvements in design and working of its installations especially the substations so that they could perform better during the rainy season.
Torrential rain rips up city roads By Gibran Ashraf The conditions of several roads of the city after the July 18 rain exposed the tall claims of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK), which had reportedly spent billions of rupees on infrastructure development. Some roads had broken up while some were washed away. Hawkes Bay road was one of the worst affected roads in the city, with parts of the road being completely washed away due to lack of proper drains and use of substandard materials in its construction. Even after the passage of two weeks, the condition of the Hawkes Bay road is dangerous with water still standing on some parts of it. Syed Mehmood Afridi, the General Secretary of the Karachi Transport Ittehad, was particularly agitated about this as his association received numerous complaints from its members about the pathetic condition of the road. He said that the road had developed serious potholes and several trucks nearly tilted over due to these potholes. Meanwhile, parts of the newly built road in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, near Pehlwan Goth, connecting Airport to Jauhar has also caved in. While Jam Sadiq bridge has developed numerous potholes, making travel on the bridge perilous, not only for the truck drivers, but also for the traffic moving under and around the bridge as well. Huge pot holes have been developed at the foot of the Lasbela Bridge and have become a spot for potential accidents.
Loss of power, loss of water! Rafay Mahmood The first rainfall of the monsoon that initially brought smiles on the faces of Karachiites was followed by a blackout that ranged from 16 hours to approximately 76 hours and resulted in an acute water shortage in city areas. The first problem occurred when their was no power supply, as a result of which residents were unable to get water from their water tanks as water pumps and motors were not working. Although, in some areas of Gulshan- e- Iqbal power was restored just 24 hours after the shortage but it was of no help as there was no water in the water lines and people had to look for alternatives. " Power was restored in my area on Sunday evening after 24 hours but there was no water as a result of which we went to our relatives, but they had no power too. We had to then get water from the over head tank of our relatives or wait for water," Ahmed Shahzad a resident of Gulshan- e- Iqbal, Block 7 told Kolachi. Mrs Ahmad, resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar said, "We had no option but to call for a water tanker. However, when we started using the water it had a bad odour due to which we had to throw it away." She further said that after some time when the water supply resumed, it was dirty and smelt bad. She and her family had to wait patiently for the supply of clean water. To all these problems Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has a very good response which is, 'power shortage'. Karachi gets its main water supply from Hub River and River Indus which supply water to Dhabeji Water Pumping Plant from which water is supplied to the whole city and due to the power outbreak both of the two pumps at the plant were shut down. "It was for the first time in history, when there were zero water supplies from Dhabeji Pumping System. For more than 40 hours the city was not receiving any water," Ayub Khanzada, Public Relations Officer at KWSB, told Kolachi. It is strange to see that the main pumping stations of the city do not have a power back up as like all hapless citizens, the pump had to wait for the power to restore. Sewerage Issues The massive downpour of water also resulted in the failure of the already sensitive drainage system. From overflowing gutters to houses filled with water, another major issue that came on the forefront was the mixing of sewerage and water pipelines which resulted in scarcity of drinking water, but the KWSB don't think it was a "very big problem". "The mixing of water lines and sewerage line must be a problem of a single house or else this would have been an issue over the whole city," Khanzada commented. To a question about the distance between the underground sewerage and water supply lines, he said that usually water lines are placed above drainage lines and some times due to flow of some solid particles, a leak might occur in the pipeline, resulting in the mixing of water. As per the problems of overflowing gutters, he said that "The drainage lines in the residential areas are very narrow and are not designed as storm drains. They are designed for a certain pressure of water and if that exceeds then water finds an outlet which results in overflowing of gutters.
Land reclamation, faults in Lyari Expressway cause flooding Torrential rain that hit the city on July 18 left several areas of the city inundated. Experts hold encroachments and faulty infrastructure of the city responsible By Shahid Husain LLand reclamation by Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Karachi Port Trust (KPT), the faulty design of Lyari Expressway and failure to build check dams at the points of origin of Malir and other rivers of Karachi is causing flooding in the mega city, Perween Rahman, a leading architect and Director Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) told Kolachi. She said that it is true that the rains that came this time were "extraordinary" but flooding was essentially caused due to a poor drainage system. Elaborating, she said that there are three drainage outfalls in Karachi -- the Malir River outfall, Mai Kolachi Bypass point where the business centres such as I.I. Chundrigar Road drainage channels join the Mai Kolachi Bypass and enter the Boat Basin backwater before joining the sea, and the Lyari River outfall which takes care of the towns such as Orangi Town, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE), Baldia Town, North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Gulberg, New Karachi and parts of Keamari Town. "The problem is that the outfalls at Malir River and Mai Kolachi Bypass are blocked because they have been encroached upon," Rahman said, adding: "In the Malir River outfall, the DHA is reclaiming land and the outfall is becoming narrow," she explained. "The Mai Kolachi Bypass outfall where two business centres namely Soldier Bazaar and the city's railway station drain has been narrowed because Mai Kolachi Bypass passes over it without provision for the passage of drainage," she added. "There is plotting by the KPT. These two outfalls are being encroached upon and are being blocked by the DHA and the KPT," she said. Similarly, Soldier Bazaar drain is 40 to 50 feet wide but as it passes the bypass it has been narrowed to 25 to 30 feet, she explained. Referring to Lyari River, she said the width of the river has been reduced to one-third during the construction of Lyari Expressway. "Whenever the width of any drainage channel is reduced, the depth has to be increased to cater to the volume that flows through it," Rahman said. "The water table is high where the Lyari River joins the sea. Hence its depth can't be increased at that point and this factor should have been taken into consideration," she said. "As a result, the area in the vicinity of Lyari Expressway is always flooded," she said. Proposing the solutions for saving the city from flooding, she said that firstly the DHA and the KPT encroachment should be stopped and Boat Basin needs to be reverted to its original design. Secondly, the drainage channels have to be de-silted all year round and not in the monsoon season alone. Thirdly, since most of the rivers do not originate in the vicinity of the city limits, rainwater harvesting could be practiced and check dams be made at the origin of these rivers. "This will avoid flooding in the city and can also bring potable water to peripheral Goths and settlements," she told Kolachi. "Finally, the main rivers such as Malir and Lyari and branches of Orangi and Gujjar Nullah have to be developed. "Government's S -3 plan also needs to be implemented," she concluded. Meanwhile, Roland de Souza, a senior engineer associated with Shehri-CBE, an NGO, said, " Two hundred years ago, rain that fell on the area that now comprises Karachi did not cause flooding, but flowed naturally under gravity to the Nullahs, creeks and sea." Over the past 200 years, this natural storm drainage has been disturbed by the construction of buildings, roads, structures, walls and the consequent arbitrary changing of levels of the ground in various areas of the city. Thus some areas find themselves literally 'in a hole,' and it takes an inordinate amount of time for water to drain away to the sea," he said. "An overall storm drainage (separate from sewerage) needs to be developed for Karachi, and strictly enforced by the municipalities/government while new construction and reconstruction is being undertaken," he added.
Rest in Peace (R.I.P) may no longer be carved upon the graves in a country like Pakistan if concerned authorities do not take necessary measures to solve this problem By Shiraz Mukarram As the pre-monsoon measures in the city failed following heavy rains, cemeteries such as the Gora Qabristan, opposite Finance and Trade Centre and two cemeteries in Orangi Town of Gulshan-e-Bihar and Gulshan-e-Zia, Sector 16 and 111/2 also remained inundated with water for days on end. As numerous deaths occurred because of tin roofs that flew off with heavy gusts while others died due to electrocution, citizens were unable to visit the graves of their loved ones where life size pools of stagnant water either helped breed mosquitoes or caused some of the graves to completely collapse. The Christians suffered as one of their many graveyards remained immersed in water, raising serious questions. "Since there is no outlet or drainage channel for water from the cemetery to be released into the sea as a result sewage and water from the nearby Bizerta Line and the cantonment flats accumulates in the graveyard," said Alan Lobo, Supervisor of the Gora Qabristan while talking to Kolachi. "This place is on approximately 14 acres of land and we wish to make it into a good cemetery for the Christian community, but our attempts have proved futile," added Lobo. He further said that the levelling and construction of the new road by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) on both sides of the necropolis, which was built in the 18th century, has been done in such a way that now this cemetery is almost three feet below ground level, "why wouldn't all water from the surrounding areas come in and add to this pool of contagious water?" he questioned. Lobo explained that the Karachi Cantonment Board (KCB) provided the cemetery with two water tanks, one 16 cubic feet and the other 10 cubic feet to drain water out with the help of a number of pumps. However, due to the extreme conditions which left the entire city at a standstill, the problem for the graveyard is exacerbated because there is no outlet for the water to drain away. Explaining that the normal drainage system has been choked for weeks, Lobo added that the KCB had assured help "still no one has visited the graveyard, despite complaints lodged with the City Nazim and the KCB." On the other hand, speaking to Kolachi about the situation at the Gora Qabristan, the KCB Secretary Mehmoob Rasheed, said that the cemetery is a private property and the cantonment board could not "interfere" in their matters. Moreover, Rasheed denied the fact that sewage was also accumulating in the graveyard, saying that it used to be a problem as he explained, "we are ready to coordinate with them and chalk out a plan to get rid of the water in that graveyard soon." Meanwhile, Mohammad Shamsuddin, a resident of Orangi Town Ghaziabad, Union Council (UC) 6 told Kolachi that the situation in Orangi Town was actually even worse. "In Bewa (widow) Quarters' graveyard one corpse had actually floated out of its grave into the house of another resident Mohammad Najeeb-ul-Akhter," he said. "It created chaos and confusion in the entire neighbourhood, the body had been buried only two days before the rain," he added. While talking to Kolachi, Najeeb, 37, said that he had never seen anything like that. Graveyards of Gulshan-e-Bihar and Zia were also inundated with water while some of the graves had collapsed. Shamsuddin urged the town administration Nazim, Abdul Haq and UC in-charge Akram Siddiqui to drain out water from roads, cemeteries and clear garbage from the surrounding areas, because the stench was unbearable. "There is absolutely no drainage line in either of the graveyards. The water either evaporates within weeks and months or drains into the ground slowly. Several graves that were built back in the early nineties have collapsed," Shamsuddin told Kolachi. "Graveyards should be given high reverence and be taken care of no matter what the situation is. It is unclear if still any one is going to take an initiative and come for help," he added. Graveyards of Daba Morr, Islam Chowk, Thurani Goth and Disco Morr were also affected.
Water, water everywhere, but nowhere to go By Rabia Ali On the evening of July 18, when the city started receiving the monsoon showers, Raheela Faraz, oblivious of the outside situation, was busy shopping in a mall on Tariq Road. By the time she and her family had come out from the mall, the roads were flooded, and the rain had begun to take its fiercest form. "The rainwater had started entering our car, and when we reached the Sharfabad Chowrangi, the water level had rose to a good four feet." At this point, Raheela's husband along with his two-year-old son, and Raheela with her two-month-old son tried to wade through water to reach a nearby bakery. During the journey, Raheela fell in the water. "It was a total nightmare as I was unable to walk. My son was crying and when I fell in the water, half of his body had gone down." After a struggling journey, she finally made it to the shop. The metropolis which was relentlessly lashed with heavy downpour had created havoc and chaos for many of its citizens, when a number of roads became inundated, areas became flooded, and rain water damaged household appliances and furniture. From the city's higher income areas to the slums of Karachi, hundreds bore the brunt of the torrential rains. Amatul Qayyum, a resident of Chapal Ocean Apartments near Sea View, Clifton told Kolachi, "Our area was inundated with rain water for almost two days. We were completely stranded in our homes as our apartment was surrounded by water from all sides, and seemed like an island. Since our area is a low-lying area, therefore such a situation arises every year during the monsoon rains, but no steps are taken to avoid recurrence of this." People from the 'other side of the bridge' had similar stories to tell. Farman, a resident of Azeempura, Shah Faisal Colony lamented, "The roads were heavily flooded, and the rainwater seeped into our house and the furniture was floating." While the area was flooded for two days, Farman pointed out that a ground near Stop Y in Millat town, Malir Halt is still inundated with rainwater." Like the residential areas, the industrial areas of the city were also not spared. Sharafatullah, working with a newspaper told Kolachi, "The Godam Chowrangi in Korangi Industrial Area was completely washed away by the rains, causing blockage of roads, and resulting in traffic jams." Being a resident of Nasir Colony in Korangi, he said that the area was inundated with rainwater, and a person even died of electrocution. The Nursery area was worst-affected, especially the Nursery Furniture Market which is a low-lying area. It witnessed wide-scale losses due to the July 18 rains. Muhammad Asif, a shopkeeper told Kolachi, "Almost the entire market has faced losses of more than 0.1 million. I have incurred losses up to 0.4million. Due to the rains, all the furniture in my shop was damaged as the water level had risen up to five feet." One of the city's busiest road --- I.I Chundrigar was no exception. Umul Awan, working at a private bank stated, "The roads were flooded, especially the Ziauddin Road which was not cleared even after two days of the heavy downpour." Asra Muhammad of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), said, "Orangi was badly affected by the rain, and several people lost their lives, as rooftops of houses had collapsed. Since the road and houses are not on an equal level, and the roads being on a higher level allowed the water to enter into the houses causing immense miseries to the residents. They had to spend the entire night clearing their houses and protecting household items from damage." While the troubled spots are easily identifiable, steps are not taken to improve or make changes, as Asif stated, "The drainage system in our area is old and useless. To deal with the rains, sewerage lines and the drains should be cleaned thoroughly as the area remains vulnerable to the rains always."
Karachiites pay the price for 'ill-planning' By Samia Saleem When the recent heavy rains lashed the city, Karachiites suffered through the worst conditions in the history of this metropolis. Complete breakdown of power, unavailability of drinking water, and the flood-like situation on the roads, are only few of the long list of problems Karachi came across that week. To figure out the reasons why the system in a bustling city like Karachi breaks up in no time, Kolachi spoke to Arif Hasan, the noted architect and town planner. Kolachi: What do you think are the reasons behind the collapse of the civic system with the recent rains? Arif Hasan: The collapse was certainly due to the lack of the maintenance system in the city. We have three major areas that usually get affected due to rain: the drainage system, power supply and the roads and these results in the collapse of the civic system as a whole. This is what exactly happened after the recent rains. Kolachi: This time it seemed that the drainage system of the city created the chaos. Why do you think this happened? Arif Hasan: The reason for overflow of water during rains was that the drainage outfalls were jammed causing flooding and blocking of sewers and drains. In our city the water mains and other service lines such as telephone, gas and electricity are mostly laid across these drains due to which the flow of water in the Nullahs gets hindered. Another reason is that when it rains not only there comes a lot of water to flow from the drains into the sea but the water level in the sea itself rises, and with the outlets so reduced in size take longer and sometimes with the high tide water flows back from the sea causing even more harm. If enough drains had been made considering the growth of the city, the situation could have been averted. Kolachi: How do you think can the drainage system be improved? Arif Hasan: It can be improved by putting an end to encroachments, land grabbing and siphoning of the other main lines such as gas, water and telephone. Piped culverts which are common should be replaced by boxed culverts. This way the drains will get wider and will create space for water flow. Kolachi: What went wrong with the roads and how can they be improved? Arif Hasan: In other countries the roads are made by architects but unfortunately here this task is given to 'thekedars'. Kolachi: Do you think we face these problems due to lack of resources? Arif Hasan: No, we certainly have enough resources, its just bad planning. The city government recently announced Rs32 million for the tree-plantation campaign. Had there been a problem of resource this wouldn't have been possible. Kolachi: Is it because of the influx of people or over population that we face such shortfalls? Arif Hasan: I don't think so. As I said earlier it's ill planning. Another misconception is this that in Karachi people wrongly blame 'Katchi Abadis' for infrastructure problems. In real terms it is the huge encroachments and settlements like that of DHA and KPT that are actually responsible for such shortfalls. Kolachi: Since when do you think Karachi has been facing such crumpling break down of infrastructure? Arif Hasan: Karachi had been functioning fairly well 30 years before. After 1977, constant political crisis started in the country and since then there have been huge investments in the city but unfortunately that produced no result. As in military rule there is no accountability, and the successive governments also did nothing to change it. There are laws in Pakistan but no institutions and framework to implement and regulate them, and no city, no country can function well under such an arrangement.
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