Lessons from Karachi tragedy

It won be long before Pakistans own 11/9 will be forgotten. Probes have been ordered, enquiries launched, committees formed, mourning days observed, yet many questions loom unanswered. The citizens of the metropolitan saw the Karachi Commissioner, moaning about the helplessness of his administration. It is unbelievable that a city as big as Karachi does not have the financial capacity to purchase modern fire-fighting equipments. Yes, the blame should be shared between the greedy owners, the incompetent municipal authority, the corrupt bureaucracy, the departments of industries and labour, but it is the failure of institutions that is most worrisome. Karachi undoubtedly contributes a significant share of taxes to the national exchequer, and if it continues to carry such insufficient capacity to manage disasters, then the less said about the smaller cities, the better. It is ironic that such negligence is allowed in building industrial zones, where the fire tenders have to cover miles to reach the affected areas. It is only common sense that whenever such a situation arises, the probability of having an extreme case is much higher in industrial zones than in residential areas, yet the fire brigades continue to reside in the central city areas. The city commissioner was also heard saying that should a fire break out in one of the citys high rises, they wouldn be able to do anything about it as the snorkels can reach such heights. So whose fault is this? The tragedy makes the case for having a local government system, and the argument has weight. But it was not long ago that Karachi had such a system in place, and nothing noteworthy was done in this regard to ensure safety standards. It is appalling that the major catastrophes to have hit Pakistan in the recent past have affected the poor class, and without a well-established social safety net, the poor are in danger of dwelling further in the deep hole of poverty. There will be one-time compensation for the families of the deceased and injured, but the people who lost their lives were mostly the soul bread earners of large families, which are in danger of slipping below the poverty line and demand a more focussed social safety net, that ensures that the poor of this country are looks after. There is no substitute for the invaluable loss of hundreds of lives, but this tragedy should be lesson enough for the government to wake up from its slumbers and act. Remember, it is the neglected class that gets hit most often and such tragedies carry the potential of civil unrest and anarchy in the society, if left unattended. If this doesn teach the government a lesson, nothing will.