T is a relief that Pakistan has been spared the brunt of the tropical cyclone Nanauk as it moved along the Arabian Sea on a course that is likely to take it to the coast of Oman. As it is, some of the fallout of the unusually high tides it caused within our coastal borders have already extracted a toll. A few days ago, dozens of villages along the coastline of three tehsils of Thatta district were submerged. The villagers, mostly fisherfolk, are adept at handling the regular tidal onslaught that hits around this time of the year, but the volume of water in this instance was such that they had to evacuate to dry land. The Karachi and Badin sections of the coastline have also beenaffected.

We use the world `relief` because Pakistan, whether it is the coastal areas or any other part of the country, remains shockingly ill-equipped to deal with natural disasters, even though for a string of years it had regularly faced flooding caused by rain and glacial melt on a large scale. Now, with the monsoons fast approaching, there ought to be in evidence moves to prepare for any deluge: canals should be desilted, waterways cleared, settlements along the banks of the main rivers made to move, and so on. A stitch in time, as the saying goes, saves nine. Instead, we see only the torpor that has become the hallmark of the state, which will swing ponderously into action only after the event. Thankfully, again, the meteorological department`s prediction this year is that the levels of rainfall are likely to be lower than usual. But even if that turns out to be correct, all that means is that the country will not have on its hands a fullscale rain-related emergency as was experienced in the past. Even if the rains are of lower intensity, there will be some settlements swept away, varied degrees of damage to infrastructure and a certain level of chaos. Havoc will prevail in Karachi, as it always does when it rains even a little bit. Is it too much to ask that the state take action while there`s still time? It cannot be that the country faces the same challenge, year after year, and walks away with no lessons learned.