NATURAL disasters are exactly what the phrase states: ‘NATURAL’ disasters. They come ‘naturally,’ they cannot be averted and most of the time they cannot even be predicted accurately. They happen all over the world and people die because of these disasters all over the world too.

While this may sound like a science lesson for class two students, there is a reason for this fundamental explanation. As ‘natural’ disasters consequently result in death, the casualties/fatalities as such have to be taken into account and a death toll finalised so that bereaved families can be notified and the dead can be buried.

But in our part of the world, Karachi more so, everything turns into a conspiracy theory, even natural disasters. The bizarre reactions to the deaths and body count after last Saturday’s windstorm/torrential rain is one ludicrous case in point.

June 23 — despite warnings of an impending storm from the meteorological department — caught Karachiites unawares, resulting in not just the usual chaos that follows every downpour, but in a death toll that was too high for a rain spell that lasted just about 30 minutes. The reasons were many for the high death count — electrocution; roof and wall collapse; falling trees and falling hoardings — and the destruction saw many people go into a panic. But the most idiotic reaction was the episode witnessed at the Edhi morgue when armed gunmen — identified as ‘local’ boys of a political party — stormed the premises and took the staff hostage at gunpoint, disallowing ambulances from shifting the bodies to the morgue. These people were dead, for heaven’s sake! What could they do to change the situation? But when there is little respect for living people in this city and they can be gunned down for ‘going to the airport,’ there can hardly be any respect expected for the dead!

To continue the body count sham, official figures are still not consistent. City Nazim Mustafa Kamal still claims that 89 persons died in the storm; Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim states that contrary to reports, only 83 people have died; Rizwan Edhi of the Edhi Foundation claims to have collected more than 200 bodies whereas the Sindh Health Minister, Syed Sardar Ahmed, declared that a total of 228 people died in the rain-related catastrophe. What a responsible lot!

The sorry situation cannot be condemned enough. First and foremost there is no disaster management plan in a city of this colossal size. And to add insult to injury, the dead are being disregarded even after death. What kind of a mind-set is this?

Granted that more steps were taken to ensure that water was drained out from key areas this time and that the haphazard digging for storm-water drains managed to absorb a large quantity of storm-water. But if the hoardings or electrocution or fallen trees did result in deaths, a quick crisis management plan — absent despite tall claims — would have been a more responsible reaction than hiding the death toll. But there is no end to the ignominies suffered by the citizens of Karachi at the hands of its civic rulers.

If the governor and the nazim feared that they would control the voters’ loss by resorting to such tactics via their party workers, let them be reminded that the May 12 Karachi carnage has done more than its fair share on that score. And how will they hide the fact that the coastal highway was washed away in the flood? Will all pictures be destroyed or will the photographers be shot?

At this point the civic agencies should concentrate on damage control and immediately assess the troubled spots, setting their wrongs to right. The relief packages announced for Karachi — Sindh government, Rs71 million; prime minister, Rs200 million; Punjab government, Rs50 million — should be spent first in rehabilitating the residents of Mubarak Village, Keamari, Sohrab Goth and Gadap Town, where residents have not slept for a week and where children are still bathing in mosquito-infested water and gastroenteritis is becoming an epidemic. Immediate completion of work on storm-water drains must follow as well.

Considering that Karachi is supposedly a modern city, the devastation wreaked by spurts of rain doesn’t add up. The civic agencies, as always, were caught napping but hiding dead bodies has not helped their reputation in any way.

Falling hoardings were a catastrophe waiting to happen. No action was taken since last year when the order was issued to remove illegal hoardings. Even now, one wonders, how many will be permanently removed.

Out of 17,000 hoardings, 13,000 are supposedly illegal. Defacing Karachi’s façade, these hoardings also serve as political banners at times when the city government or the Sindh government announce their festivals and fiestas being celebrated in the city. In fact two or three giant ones proudly stand in front of the CM House flashing the smiling faces of the chief minister and the president. These too must be removed, the election campaign be damned!