WHILE we have a history of waking up to realities after the fact, in Karachi, we don't even wake up then. The week-long spell of rain that began with this month inundated the entire city and created a near emergency situation. None of the civic bodies have taken on the responsibility of this catastrophe ensuing with just three inches of rain.

And this is the megalopolis whose officials are vying to liken it soon to cities like Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. The situation of the past two weeks has done more than expose the shoddy management of civic agencies and the inadequate nature of the city’s infrastructure. It has given the ill-treated citizens of this mismanaged city even more hopelessness and numbed senses.

A colleague wrote that we should have screamed blue murder at the apathy shown to us by the civic authorities. But instead, we submissively accepted the statements offered to us as explanations and are still going on with our lives, just praying that the Almighty spares us another such torrent. Should one admire the constancy that characterises Karachi and its citizens' level of endurance in dealing with these insurmountable civic issues or lament the impassivity of the civic agencies for whom the bells of accountability never toll?

Only two months ago the DHA Administrator, Brigadier Maqsood Hussain, had held a meeting to finalize rain emergency plan for Defence Housing Authority and Clifton Cantonment Board areas. Underlining, “the need for imaginative and advanced planning, allocation of adequate resources and effective drainage of rain and sewerage,” much was discussed and statements issued of how the DHA and the CCB would be carrying out works in connection with rain emergency.

But the catastrophe unleashed after the rain makes one wonder, whether the ‘respected’ officials were looking into upgrading the rain emergency system of the same areas that we know come under the DHA and CCB or are there some other areas we are unaware of? With Clifton, Defence and Bath Island looking as if the areas were hit by a tsunami, it is totally mystifying what ‘measures’ were taken, if at all.

For one, the Naher-i-Khayyam which serves as the main outfall drain for these areas, was not cleaned at all and still remains in the same overfull state as it was months ago. Let alone cleaning of that drainage output, its width has been reduced in the past few months with land-filling being done on a substantial portion of it -- probably for commercial purposes.

This has obviously narrowed its capacity for allowing drainage water to pass through. Wasn’t this drain outlet’s clean up the first step to be looked into when ensuring easy drainage for rain water of the areas under the territorial and administrative control of the DHA and the Clifton Cantonment Board?

Two weeks have passed and water is still standing in several lanes and streets because of clogged gutters in Defence and Clifton. The road from the Lily Bridge signal to the submarine roundabout, emerging from under water after eight days, now lies decimated. Smaller nullahs like those near city station where the Chundrigar road collapsed, too, still remain unclear. Despite rain forecasts since the beginning of July, and the allocation of Rs50 million by the city government for the cleaning of nullahs, why were the main outfall drains left in the clogged state?

And one must also add here that most of the clogged rain water on main arteries in the jurisdiction of DHA and CCB which had rendered residents house bound for almost two days after the rain, has gradually dispersed not because it was pumped out, but simply by gradual evaporation by the sunrays. Where were all those water pumping machines which were supposed to be at hand for rain emergencies, a fact declared by the city nazim, naib nazim, DHA administrator and the CCB officials?

The crudest part is the usual blame shifting and finger pointing taking place between all these agencies. And even more ironic is the President’s latest statement issued two days ago. With the Sindh governor, chief minister, federal and provincial ministers, advisers, and nazims of various districts as his audience, General Musharraf pointed out that the UN has come up with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and that we should try to remain ‘ahead’ of the deadline set by the UN.

One wonders, whether it is the president’s naïvette in still believing along the lines of turning Karachi into an investors’ paradise, or is it complete ignorance of the plight of the citizens of the country’s most ‘prosperous’ and revenue generating city? When the ‘allegedly’ elite areas resemble New Orleans-after-the-hurricane following a three-inch rainfall, how will those same officials who could not save the city from nearly drowning, prepare it for the UN’s millennium goal? Talk about rubbing salt to the wounds!

If we were to get another few spurts of God’s blessing from the heavens tomorrow, are we any way better prepared than we were two weeks ago? Have all the choked gutter lines been opened? Has the outfall drain cleared to accomodate rain water coming in from all sides of the city?

What naïve questions. This is not the war against terror, where a bomb can be dropped at a moment’s notice. This pertains to a more complicated infrastructure of a supposedly modern road network of highways and underpasses and even more evolved governance through devolution of power. And while in times of peace, smart nations prepare for war, in Karachi, we continue to haggle over who will trash the dirt and when the truth comes to light, utter like a five-year-old, ‘it wasn’t my fault’!