generalspeaking

Pestilence in a Country of Violence and Oppression

"You spend half your time just shooing them away."
"If your car window is open, they fly in. If you’re having a cup of tea, don’t leave the sugar out."
"In fact, don’t leave out any food of any kind."
"[It isn’t unusual for flies to proliferate following Eid al-Adha]. But usually it ends after a week."
"And as the sun rose after the [heavier-than-usual seasonal] rain — so did the flies."
"Take the sludge and the rain and the offal: the three combined to create a very warm bed for flies. The city stinks. It’s hard to breathe."
"There are no mosquitoes in the afternoon, but there are flies in the light, in the dark, in the cold, in the rain, without rain, in the sun, everywhere."
"They [people coping] adopt different methods. Some burn neem tree leaves, or simply shut their doors and windows. Some try fumigation and clean the floors with disinfectant. You can’t leave food unattended or uncovered. And they’re swatting at the flies with whatever comes to hand. Geo TV even suggested 'seven quick DIY methods to rid your house of flies'."
Karachi resident

In this picture taken on August 31, a butcher's stall is pictured next to a street flooded with rainwater in a market in Karachi. — AFP

"There are huge swarms of flies and mosquitoes. You can't walk straight on the road."
"[It is the worst fly infestation ever seen.] It’s not just affecting the life of the common man — they’re so scary, they’re hounding people."
Dr. Seemin Jamali, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center

Monsoon rains deluged Karachi for weeks, sending sewage and trash through the largest city in Pakistan, leaving its 15.5 million people to cope with the aftermath. But first came power outages, for 60 hours at a time and even longer. As though that didn't represent misery enough, a swarm of flies has descended in what appears to be biblical-plague numbers. They are everywhere, in and out of stores, cars, homes, settling on any surface, whether animate or inanimate.

According to Dr. Jamali of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, the current situation represents the absolute worst infestation she has ever experienced. So the city responded by initiating a fumigation drive. The flies were not impressed, it seemed to make no difference whatever to their numbers. And people in the city are becoming increasingly frustrated. This, in a city with longstanding problems with garbage disposal and sewer drainage.


Evidently the infestation as far as experts are concerned, was in all likelihood the result of the combination of stagnant rainwater alongside street garbage, topped up with waste from slaughtered animals in honour of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. "If there are a couple of more spells like this, then the city will become completely dysfunctional", observed Dr. Noman Ahmed, dean at the NED University of Engineering and Technology.

This is a country that prides itself on its nuclear weapons stockpile. The better to threaten its nemesis-neighbour India with. A country that supports terrorism, where both al-Qaeda and the Taliban found a handy haven as a jumping-off spot from which to terrorize Afghanistan and the world at large. Where Osama bin Laden had a family compound at Abbottabad, a stone's throw from an elite Pakistan military academy.

It was able to navigate the technical mystery of nuclear fission, but engineering and building a sewage treatment system to service a crowded city was obviously too trifling a matter to be tended to. There are probably more engineering graduates than any other profession in Pakistan. Urban development and the required civil infrastructure to produce a decent living environment for its population is too challenging for the municipal government of the city.

The city's natural drains are utilized as a dumping ground, it would appear. Malaria, gastroenteritis, typhoid, dengue fever, the chikungunya virus, respiratory disorders and Congo fever predictably enough were on the rise in Karachi thanks to all these failures in urban development.



Karachi produces around 12,000 tons of waste daily, despite which its resources and infrastructure have failed to maintain pace with the constant expansion and lifestyle changes among its immense population. Waste management and municipal services are handled by different city agencies. "The city requires a kind of sanitation emergency" urged Dr. Ahmed, one capable of mobilizing resources to clear away waste and ultimately build a new sanitation management system.

"[In previous years government fumigated in early morning] but there's nothing now -- we can't do anything, we're helpless. Business has completely ended."
"Whoever comes just looks at the flies."
Muhammad Ismal Siddiqui,54, Bohri Bazaar, sweets-seller

In this picture taken on September 2, a vendor arranges grapes as flies swarm around his cart in a slum area in Karachi. — AFP

Labels: Disease, Flies, Floods, Karachi, Pakistan, Pestilence, Waste Management

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, September 24, 2019