Relief efforts under scrutiny in Karachi, Gwadar, and Mirpur Khas amid heavy rainfall

KARACHI: As various regions of Pakistan contend with the aftermath of severe rainfall, relief efforts by government in Karachi, Gwadar, and Mirpur Khas came under heavy scrutiny

In Karachi, the city’s Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad assured residents that the situation in the city is “under control”. He said that the coordinated efforts of municipal and water board authorities is helping to mitigate effects of heavy rain across the city.

“There are also city wardens on the roads to take people to safe houses. Currently, there is no water even on Shahrah-e-Faisal Road and the traffic is flowing”, the deputy mayor claimed.

Read more: Intense rainfall disrupts traffic in Karachi; emergency declared across Sindh

He stated that the Chief Minister (CM) of Sindh is also monitoring the entire situation.

While he contended that there have been complaints of power outages in some regions, “we have spoken to the electric authorities”.

Meanwhile, the city’s district government reported that accumulation of intermittent rainwater on certain roads like Shahrah-e-Usman and Hyderi Bara Market. The district government however assured the residents that efforts were “underway” by the administration to alleviate the situation by “cleaning drains and ensuring proper drainage”.

However, there are reports of water accumulation on roads, including in Khayaban-e-Shahbaz.

Additionally, in Karachi’s Kharadar area, part of a damaged building collapsed. No loss of life was reported as no one lived in the abandoned building.

Gwadar

Senator Kahuda Babar raised concerns over the situation in Gwadar, where little action was taken to mitigate the impact of the heavy rainfall.

While contending alerts were issued to Gwadar regarding rain ahead of time, the senator lamented that “no work was done”.

The senator talked about the dearth of generators to extract water. “[W]e do not have a generator to extract water”. While “ten generators have been sent to Gwadar by the PDMA [Provincial Disaster Management Authority], it is nowhere near enough to extract water from the entire city of Gwadar”.

Read more: Communication goes down in Gwadar due to intense rainfall

Babar stated that the city’s residents are forced to rely on their own to deal with the situation. He painted a bleak picture with houses in the city inundated and residents unable to sleep.

Mirpur Khas

Meanwhile, in Mirpur Khas, persistent power outages continue to plague the city. Residents are enduring severe difficulties due to the lack of electricity.