CITY DIARY: Will we ever learn lessons from tragedies?

Islamabad:It was 8th January 2022 that horrors of a snowstorm in Murree, the ‘Queen of Hills’ in which 25 people, including 10 children, were killed, took the nation by shock. According to the Met Office, it snowed four feet within a few hours.

All those tourists came a long way to Murree from different parts of the country and spent a lot of money to die a frozen death. They must have watched the snowflakes swirling all around them from the warm confines of their vehicles, sitting with all the confidence that their father and mother are there with them. So, there was nothing to worry about! Till the time the snow completely covered the vehicles, turning vehicles into their frozen graves.

There were others. They travelled hundreds of kilometres to survive a deathly frozen blizzard that howled through the valleys and up and down the mountain slopes against which they continued a brave struggle to keep up and stay alive. There were thousands of them. They were stuck in four to five feet deep snow that descended upon them from dark, menacing skies within a few hours’ time. Whatever happened in Murree between that Friday night and Saturday was unfortunate and most frightening. But sad part was that all this happened despite a warning issued by the Met Office almost three days ago!

Leaving alone as to who faltered and where which turned an exciting excursion into a nightmare, we believe we should have learned the lessons for future. This time over all the concerned departments are already well prepared and set to face any climatic challenges. The Director of Met Office in Islamabad, Dr Zaheer Ahmed Babar, when contacted that this year below normal snowfall is expected in the hilly areas.

However, he warned that such freak weather systems form without a warning like it happened on 8th January 2022. “We are continuously monitoring the weather patterns as it is our job and responsibility. But all the departments need to be well prepared to meet any climatic emergency. “We have already faced two major climatic events, first the snowstorm in January and later the unprecedented rains almost all over Pakistan and especially in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

“Keeping in view such events all the concerned departments need to be well prepared and fully equipped to deal with any emergency situation,” Dr Zaheer Ahmed Babar said. Spokesperson for the Rescue 1122, Deeba Shehnaz, when contacted said that her department is fully operational and had achieved the best possible levels of preparedness to deal with any such disaster now.

“We have organised a series of trainings since January 2022. We have established at least 14 monitoring and response centres all over Murree at strategic locations. Another 12 motorbikes have also been provided to quick response and mass awareness campaigns have also been launched for general public,” Deeba Shehnaz said. She said that her department is in touch with the officials in the National Highway and Motorway Police as well as the local administrations in all the areas where such an eventuality could take place for better and quick management of rescue and relief operations.