IT seems that governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh have learned few lessons from the havoc wreaked by last year’s floods. The monsoons that have enveloped much of Pakistan in recent days have once again caused untold misery, especially in rural Sindh, forcing people to abandon their homes and leave behind their precious livestock. The people displaced, yet again, will be lucky if they can find their cattle alive when they are able to return home to salvage what they can. Also lost will be standing crops and seed stock for the next season. And where has the government been most of this time? Almost non-existent and largely conspicuous by its absence. What we hear are officious noises and little else while people who were already impoverished have to find some way to secure a square meal at least once a day. And once they return to their wrecked homes, will the authorities be there to set them back on their feet? Going by past, and recent, experience that does not seem likely.

After the floods that destroyed so many lives in 2010, it was expected that extraordinary steps would be taken to prevent a repeat this year. It seems that hasn’t happened. Official apathy is playing with people’s lives not just in the here and now but also the future. A farmer who returns to nothing will be hungry the next year too, leading to cyclical poverty that may be passed on to the next generation. Were embankments reinforced in time for this year’s rains? Were drainage systems improved so that lives and property could be protected in the worst-case scenario? Tragically, that does not seem to be the case and the finger of blame must naturally be pointed at both federal and provincial governments that appear to be asleep at the wheel. The breaches in the Left Bank Outfall Drain that inundated some 1,500 villages in Badin ought to have been anticipated in advance. Two years in a row, the government has been found wanting and it needs to answer some pressing questions.