Dr. Zia Ahmed
Even after having more than sufficient experience of uncontrolled water flooding, Pakistan has not come up with concrete plans to save our people from death and destruction
Floods and epidemics have been a part of human history and life. Floods have been documented as well as retold in many ways. For example, holy and revealed books like the Bible and the Holy Quran mention the flood of Noah and the resultant method of safety for humanity. This proves that humanity and its competition for survival against floods are not relatively new but go back centuries. But even after the latest scientific developments in almost every field, society has succeeded only partially in defending itself against water calamities. The scientists provided solutions for making dams and constructing large and robust structures and bridges with water management devices. Still, so far, success seems little against the powerful force of nature, constantly proving destructive and annihilating.
Floods are not only mentioned in the holy books. The world of literature is also full of stories of death and destruction caused by the dominating flood waters and human struggle against it. For example, a Canadian writer, Margaret Atwood, titled her novel, “The Year of the Flood,” which explored similar havoc and apocalyptic post-epidemic life of struggle of the people in general. Toufiq Rafat’s poem, “Wedding in Flood,” also discusses the powerlessness of humanity against the brutal force of water when it is uncontrollable.
Water is life, and there are tales of love and romance associated with the water of rivers, streams, and oceans. For example, the romantic love tale of Sohni and Manhiwal ends with the death of Sohni while she was negotiating across the river Chenab to meet her lover and got drowned in the river water. This has been the source of travel and luggage transportation. The Egyptians constructed world wonder pyramids by moving huge stone structural units in the waters of the Nile. Main rivers like the Amazon, the Yellow River, the mighty Indus, and the Nile have been famous for wars, provisions, and human transportation till today. Almost every town in the world is situated on or along the banks of some or the other water body, making the water a source of sustenance and life.
But the same water bodies become destructive to humanity when they are beyond human control, and in Pakistan, this has always been the case in almost every rainy season since 1947. These rains and flooding have been happening in other countries, but the loss of life and material is minimal because of the measures taken by those proactive nations. For example, India and China have built huge dams and water reservoirs that benefit them during rainy and flooding seasons. The same is the case with the developed world, which has created dams and artificial lakes alongside the cities to direct the main flow of flood water to them and keep their human population safe. Besides, they locate and help build residential areas for their people to avoid the paths of flooding waters.
Even after having more than sufficient experience of uncontrolled water flooding, Pakistan has not come up with concrete plans to save our people from death and destruction. Even after being a predominantly agricultural country that requires water more than the industrial countries, we have not constructed any reservoirs to store water for our crops. We are still depending on the water management system the colonists gave and, after that, have not paid much heed to it. The world has learned and acted otherwise over the years on the significance of water resources and their conservation, control, and management. We have done very little, and so, in consequence, our people are still suffering because of the rainy floods, even in the 21st century. Massive losses of animals, crops, and infrastructure have been reported, making it a human catastrophe.
The need of the hour is to take caution and heed to find solutions to the next level against such catastrophes instead of playing the politics of the blame game and, each time, begging the international community to help us to mitigate the post-flooding food crises and rebuilding of infrastructures. We must come up with comprehensive plans to construct dams and implement them, regardless of their being small or large, politically viable or not, to control and manage waters to be released at the time of need and to be used for generating hydel power. Artificial lakes can be created among the mountain areas on the path of water channels. Later, the same may be pumped to the plain areas for irrigation and other purposes to avoid droughts and dryness. Almost every city should have constructed an artificial lake to store the extra rainy water.
Moreover, the planning for population settlement and residing areas needs to be revisited in the future by keeping in view the flow of water and the depth of the land on which humans live. It is fitting to accept that humanity is primarily unable to avoid the destruction caused by natural calamities such as sudden and hugely impacting earthquakes. There have been few ways to create safety measures other than early warnings and dislocating the human population. But the water of rains and flooding, though not entirely, is partially manageable and can be used to cater to the needs of humanity, as has been done by China and America. Whatever we do, we must attempt to make water life instead of a destructive force.
