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| Be prepared to face the dangers posed by hurricanes and natural disasters, Ayaz Latif Playjo. |
Due to environmental changes, climate change, and decades of incompetence of provincial and federal governments, as well as government departments, the villages of Badin, Thatta, Sajawal, and Karachi, along with millions of people living on the coast of Sindh, will continue to be under threat for decades.
Instead of viewing these temporary and ongoing threats and natural disasters as opportunities for profit and corruption, it is necessary to urgently implement the following temporary and permanent measures to protect the people:
- Every twenty kilometers along the coast, two provincial ministers, both current and former elected local MNAs, MPs, Senators, Nazm, DCs, ECs, Mukhtarkar, Tapidars, SSPs, DSPs, SHOs, engineers from all engineering departments, government doctors, and other government officials should establish foreign camps and remain there for the next week in the event of potential danger from an approaching typhoon.
- A jointly announced emergency rescue phone number should be provided by the government, mobile companies, and PTCL in Samandi Patti. This number should be attended to in all cases, and calls to this number should be free of charge.
- Relief camps should be established in affected and potentially threatened coastal areas. In these camps and surrounding villages, each family should be provided with one month's supply of raw rations, clean drinking water, mosquito nets, dry wood or coal, tarpaulin, milk for children, medicine, biscuits, torches, fodder for cattle, mosquito repellents, and emergency cash of ten thousand rupees provided by the government and NDMA.
- Immediate evacuation should take place for all slums, weak buildings, villages, and houses. The affected areas should be cleared of any load, and electricity poles, large boards, transformers, and wires should be secured. Ambulances, fire brigades, pumping machines, helicopter rescue services, and boats should be arranged for any emergencies or accidents.
- The government, Coast Guards, and Navy should initiate foreign rescue operations to save sailors stranded at sea.
- Fixed and reinforced embankments should be constructed for the protection of low-lying settlements around the sea.
- The government should provide free small plots to villagers in Badin, Thatta, and Sajawal who are under constant threat and relocate them to Karachi, Mukli, Tando Mohammad Khan, or Hyderabad.
- For those who refuse to leave the area despite the direct danger, the government should provide free two-room accommodations in safe and elevated locations near their current homes and permanently relocate them there.
- A wide, elevated coastal highway should be constructed from Karachi to Thatto, Sajawal, Badin, and Thar. Tamar forests should be planted and expanded, and progressive agriculture and cattle farming should be initiated.
- To mitigate the dangers of future floods, rains, storms, droughts, earthquakes, and climate change, long-term planning, safety measures, and practical work should be undertaken with the assistance and guidance of the federal government, Sindh government, NDMA, and international organizations.
- Instead of waiting for surveys, fatalities, and destruction, major international, national, and Sindh-based NGOs and donors should proactively establish aid camps in advance in the affected areas.
- Employment opportunities should be created, and small industries should be established in the affected areas of Keti Bandar, Karo Chahan, Shah Bandar, Hijamaro, Bhaghara Memon, Chohar Jamali, Ghad, Ibrahim Haidari, Rehi, Zero Point, Mirpur Sakro, and other areas that experience regular devastation every third and fourth year. This should be done to ensure that both the affluent and ordinary villagers are not compelled to risk themselves.
