Are Karachi Beaches Safe Enough for Recreation ?

Day before yesterday, 12 peoples drowned at Hawks Bay, Karachi when reportedly they were swept away by a strong wave while they were inside water. Yester month according to Edhi resources 33 people were drowned at beaches in Karachi whose bodies were recovered. That tells a sorry state of beach recreations in the city and needs necessary attention given to safety measures first before considering beaches any ideal venues for entertainment.

Although, the Sindh Government imposed ban in May 2017 through Section 144 for wading/ swimming / diving in the sea, however police and other relevant authorities rightly complain that the  sizable number of peoples that head to beaches during public holidays making it impossible for them to control the situation with their limited resources. Not long away, during 3-day Eid vacations in 2014 some 42 people were drowned to death in various beach spots of city including Sea View, Paradise Point and Hubco Beach strips. It figures out one hand that largely it is in holidays or weekends when people rush to go inside the sea and also the growing death tolls with each passing day on the other. That compels to analyze what are the reasons of these rising trend in water tragedies and in present scenario is it safe to choose beaches as picnic spots.

Topography  

First of all the beaches of Karachi are not safe for water recreation. They are not like Thailand and Maldives beaches where shoreline are steady and firm and where one can go deeper and deeper in the sea without sinking. There are traps in Karachi sea that lead to drowning incidents. Paradise Point and Cape Point have shallow water and susceptible to sinking incidents.

Oil Slicking

Dredging activities are common specially near Clifton Bach, Do Darya, Seaview, Manora where the hubs national shipping sector are not far away i.e. the Karachi Port and Port Bin Qasim. So Oil Spill at the sea is common in the sea coast alongside Karachi. Similarly tons of trash is already in the water that can harm human body causing skin and related diseases. Last week when oil slick was spotted in Clifton, the WWF- Pakistan instructed citizens to "avoid going there until water become completely free from slick".

Public Disregards

Beaches are the most accessible recreation spots in Karachi, where leisure venues are insufficient for more than 25 million population. It is however important to mention a majority of beach goers are belonged to middle class and largely from outstation of city skirts, therefore they are apparently unconcerned about the ongoing alerts in the city. A widely established reason of Beach tragedies is therefore the disregard shown by public towards warning signs set up by relevant authorities while the poorly equipped rescue service fail to respond to SOS.

Basic Amenities

There  is complete absence of garbage disposal facilities and trash can be seen strewn all over the beach often being swept away by the sea. With the exception of the Sea view, D.H.A not a single dust bins placed anywhere by authorities for trash collection. Beaches around the world offer basic facilities such as washrooms, changing facilities, public toilets, shaded benches or cabins. But in Karachi, these amenities don't exist at all.

Safety Measures

Some most important things prevailed around global beaches are missing in Karachi. The authorities must adopt a provocative approach rather than reactive on. All beaches should have first-aid stalls or cabins for emergency cases. Similarly a vigilant force of body guards stationed at their watch towers are essentials. But the city authorities are unconcerned about it.

People also must realise that the Section 144 doesn't restrict you to enjoy walking in the wet sand, witness the sunset, feel the breeze and get some sort of escapism from your routine life. What is dangerous is when they recklessly go into deep water and risk their lives.

Amongst more than a dozen beach spots in the city no beach is safe and each beach has its own dynamics and need to be dealt with separately as an individual case. So a lot more yet to be done to improve this simple leisure making it safer, cleaner and more enjoyable.

By

Editorial, Infocus

The Culprits of Karachi Rain Flood

"No individual rain drop ever considers itself responsible for the flood." John Ruskin

Last days were not less than any horrible nightmare in Karachi. Despite the Mat office forecast and disaster-avert arrangements there was havoc in Karachi when the megacity received 130 millimeter rainfall that resulted into infrastructural detriment in billions of Rupees and loss of 23 human lives.

Just have a look who are the main culprits of that disaster

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation

The KMC had performed cleaning drive of city' storm water drains in June-July on emergency basis and Minster of Local Bodies claimed that the Sindh Govt provided Rs. 50 Crore for that but the exercise  remained futile as the municipal authorities taking out the debris and trash from Nullahs or drains the staff of KMC left the debris along the bank and never transported it away from drains. The result after some days the debris mixed again in the drains. The Nehr Khayyam and Gujar Nallahas are proof in this regard. That's why when Layari Naddi filled (where already construction work is underway by the FWO), the Gujjar Nallah overfilled and drowned almost all the areas of F B Area and North Nazimabad, besides unfortunate death of two persons by drowning.

Sindh Solid Waste Management Board

From the very first day of its formation the much-criticised Board has poorly failed to collect garbage from various localities. Reportedly the Board assigned some dubious foreign firms to collect garbage from two District South and Malir, but residents of the area are witnessed the collection was improper. All the efforts of the Board was so far limited to imports of thousands of dustbins, vehicles and distribution of dustbins in districts.

K Electric

The biggest culprit of the entire saga. Out of total 23 deaths on September 31, 17 happened due to electrocution across the city. The KE itself admits in official handout that 201 incidents of 201 broken cables were reported and 133 feeders tripped in various areas. It also claims that they received more than 20,000 complains in that day, which is strange because many people shared on social media that the landline of KE was not responding.

Ministry of Local Government, Sindh

The two main arteries of the city Shahra e Faisal and University was widened and revamped with a spending spree of billions of rupees under Karachi Development Package just a month ago, yet the traffic jam has remained  a nuisance. But that rainy day the commutation was almost impossible on these main roads and reportedly motorists spent 4 to 6 hours being stuck on University Road and Shahra e Faisal. While the next important commutation artery the road from Nazimbad- to New Karachi was unable for any kind of transport being completely drowned under water, because of incomplete constructional excavation of Green Line Bus Transport Project.

Karachi Building & Control Authority

Two persons were died because of collapse of roof and walls of decrepit building collapsed when thunder storm knocked Karachi.  The Authority cannot be skipped from the responsibility of these deaths because its staff kept their eyes deliberately when such kind of irregular building structures were being constructed. And, this practice and these structures are rampant in the city.  

National Disaster Management Authority

The Authority has grand responsibility to act for restoration, relief and rehabilitation in crisis ridden situation. But sadly the only work it performed was a single SMS alert in which it just advised citizens to do "precautionary measures for next few days" by themselves. What measures and how; might be the Authority don't know itself.

Now readers decide which institution is most responsible for tragedy or who is the biggest culprit.

By

Infocus, Editorial