THE provincial authorities have been taking precautionary measures, or so we have been told, to cope with emergency situations that could result from the extreme monsoon rains expected this year. Yet, millions of city dwellers, especially across Punjab and KP, must brace themselves for urban flooding and flash floods over the next several days, as warned by the NDMA. Over the last few decades, Pakistan’s cities — big and small — have experienced extreme episodes of rain-inflicted flooding that has claimed lives and destroyed property. This is because our cities are not prepared to deal with the unpredictable rains that are becoming a routine feature of the monsoons due to climate change. And temporary measures can only partially mitigate the damage from flooding.

Urban flooding is not a phenomenon specific to Pakistan. Cities even in the developed world are confronting the issue, as global warming is inducing climatic changes and causing more and more extreme weather events. Urbanisation itself, particularly unplanned urbanisation in developing countries such as ours, has created the perfect conditions for pluvial flooding. This is necessitating solutions to control and mitigate the effects of urban flooding, with governments building and rebuilding climate-resilient urban infrastructure to protect their people and the economy from damage. This is the area on which Pakistani authorities must concentrate. Unfortunately, we are still focusing on firefighting rather than diverting our resources to better urban planning. Pakistan is among the top countries most impacted by climate change, which is another reason why we should be instituting ‘preventive measures’, such as investing in urban governance, storm-water drainage, storage and management systems, as well as solid waste disposal management. However, climate-resilient urban development is not possible under the existing political and administrative system. Building a climate-resilient urban future requires a strong and efficient, as well as financially empowered local government system. Without that, we will only be putting out fires and not preventing them.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024