KARACHI: Gadap rain victims refuse to take refuge in camps
By Hasan Mansoor
KARACHI, June 28: In a tent put up in place of his shanty home that was destroyed by the June 24 thunderstorm, labourer Mohammad Hashim says that “I cannot leave this place. My grandfather constructed our house and we have lived here for decades.” Hashim is amongst the hundreds of Gadap town families who were hit badly by the storm but resist local municipal officers’ efforts to shift them to relief camps and makeshift shelters.
The weekend storm killed over 200 people, injured hundreds more and caused massive damage to public and private properties. Of Karachi’s 18 towns, Gadap is considered the worst-hit. According to Gadap town nazim Ghulam Murtaza Baloch, “at least 26 people died when their houses collapsed and 357 others sustained injuries.” While the extent of damage to properties is still being estimated, it is likely to be alarming. Mr Baloch told Dawn that “so far, we have ascertained that some 2,150 houses were fully or partially destroyed in five of our eight union councils. But we are still counting.”
UC Gujro is believed to be the worst-affected, followed by UCs Songal, Gadap, Manghopir and Darsano Chhanno.
Jhoonjhar Goth of the UC Gujro was nearly razed to the ground but most residents have refused the authorities’ offers to shift to relief camps. The majority of the people depend on daily-wage jobs, and while they accept food and other necessary provisions, they refuse to leave.
“We trust each other to not encroach on our lands but we simply couldn’t take the decision to leave our ancestral homes,” said construction worker Gulab. Abdul Jabbar Gabol, a resident of Hamza Gabol Goth of UC Gadap, expressed similar sentiments.
While 35 families have shifted to a relief camp in the village, this number is much smaller in other goths.
Town nazim Murtaza Baloch attributes this reluctance to Gadap’s rural complexion but points out that this does not mean that the storm-devastated structures were mud houses. “Our survey showed that a significant number of houses were made of concrete. About 125 houses in the small Mulla Essa Goth area were pukka [permanent] houses and the case was the same in many other localities,” said Mr Baloch.
Many areas of Gadap town continue to face power failures which have led to an acute shortage of drinking water. Residents complain that a number of electricity poles were downed by the storm, a fact that seems to have escaped the KESC’s attention. Such grievances are loudest in the areas from Sohrab Goth, Gujro and Songal to the Manghopir union councils.
According to Sattar Brohi, naib nazim of Gadap town, the area’s residents are relying on self-help mechanisms or being helped by elected municipal officials. “We are spending from our pockets and contacting local philanthropists to help these people,” said Mr Brohi, “all we’ve got so far from senior authorities are promises.”
This, despite the fact that the Gadap town nazim was promised help at a recent meeting at the chief minister’s house, and the storm-hit area was visited by city nazim Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday.
