Livability nose-diving in Karachi

Every year, the monsoon season is a reminder of the debilitating infrastructure that especially for Karachi among areas due to urban flooding and the destruction to life and property. Severe urban flooding and destruction caused by the recent record breaking monsoon spell in the country is not entirely due to climate change, but also because of the lack of efforts and governance of the authorities to deal with the situation.

In particular context of Karachi, the monsoons are burdensome for the city due to the lack of effective rain water management. The heavy rain in the port city badly affected the infrastructure, wreaking havoc in low-lying areas. For years, encroachments along the drains and nullahs have been blamed for the rain predicaments. Yet nothing fruitful has been achieved as the situation only worsens or remains the same at least. This adds to the already sapping city infrastructure and transport. The city has been clubbed among the least livable cities on the world in2022 – only before Algiers, Tripoli, Lagos and Damascus that are marred with social unrest, terrorism and conflict.

Karachi ranks among the least 5 cities of the world on the global livability index 2022 with a rank of 168 out of 172 total countries. The cities are ranked and scored across the five broad categories stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. The Global Livability Index scores cities from 1 to 100, with 100 being the ideal score. Karachi’s overall score was 37.5 where the stability indicator performed the worst with a score of only 20. This was followed by 33.3 score in healthcare, 35.2 in culture and environment, 51.8 in infrastructure and 66.7 in education. The irony is that the city has been stuck among the least livable cities for a few years now. A lesson or two from the many cities that received monsoon and torrential rains but are not inundated could maybe help the authorities devise an emergency plan that is based proactive approach rather than the reactive.