Political economy of floods

The story of Karachi is the story of a home that catches fire every monsoon, then frantically calls the fire brigade, yet never repairs the stove.

The fire seems endless, not because the flames never die, but because the heart of the stove remains cracked.

Karachi's contribution — nearly a quarter of Pakistan's GDP — stands in stark disproportion to the development spending it receives, reinforcing the governance and infrastructure crisis.

Sometimes I wonder when we will realise that Pakistan's story is stuck in a loop; every political gamble, every economic crash, every disaster, every emergency circling back to the same "nazuk mor" — as if the nation’s drama is replaying itself without any end. And, more importantly, we buy this drama every time.

At what point will we understand that the government machinery is being run by firefighters; and they capitalise on these disasters. When will we realise that a system that profits from its crises has no reason to recover? When will we see that a beggar who earns more from his wounds than his work will never heal? When will we understand that those who turn every crisis into currency will keep inviting more crises?

Floods, cloudbursts and other natural disasters are a seasonal reality of this region. It is time we recognised that what turns these recurring events into permanent disasters are not mere administrative lapses, but deep-rooted systemic flaws. Every year, the local district administration comes under radar for their ineffective response.

While there is always room for improvement in relief operations, one systemic flaw of the system (political economy of floods) remains "unnoticed". Such criticism on the administration is like mopping the floor every time the ceiling leaks, without ever fixing the roof.

Political instability and the history of fiscal misappropriation aside, floods and natural disasters are part of the political economy of Pakistan.

Such disasters give politicians (democratic or non-democratic) a chance to have a meaningful public appearance, having otherwise been left with no moral standing in the public discourse.

A clear cycle has emerged: disaster strikes, followed by foreign funding pledges or high-interest loans, which trigger temporary relief operations, rehabilitation efforts and limited cash transfers to the affected. Then comes the next disaster, and the cycle repeats itself.

This system will persist as long as floods and their associated funding are used as political currency to influence, turning every monsoon into a season of political theatre. Relief operations, rather than being neutral instruments of recovery, are deployed as tools of influence.

There is no denying that Pakistan needs urgent relief aid in the wake of recurring disasters, but such assistance can only flow if there is confidence in its fair use. In the past, the 2010 floods badly shook that trust: a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit commissioned by Oxfam Great Britain uncovered fraud of nearly GBP135,000 in Sindh, involving falsified invoices and manipulated supplier cheques by its local partner at that time, while the government’s Watan Card scheme was tainted by over 30,000 bogus applications and allegations of political favouritism.

Poor infrastructure and a non-existent drainage system undoubtedly worsened Karachi’s crisis, but the real failure lay in the Early Warning, Alert, and Response System (EWARS).

The meteorological department had already predicted heavy rain, yet a public holiday was declared only after the downpour, not on that day. Even if the quantum of rain was unprecedented, with a drainage capacity of just around 40 mm, it was obvious the city would flood.

A proactive, well-coordinated response system could have minimised chaos. Climate change is an undeniable reality, and climate-driven disasters will only grow more frequent and intense. Yet countries like Japan, the Netherlands and even Bangladesh show that rising risks need not mean rising death tolls.

Through multi-layered risk reduction strategies, combining robust early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, community preparedness, legal enforcement against encroachment on riverbeds and swift evacuation planning — these nations have reduced disaster-related deaths by over a hundredfold in recent decades.

Lastly, the federal government must strengthen coordination between the NDMA and provincial disaster management authorities to ensure swift, unified responses.

Funding is undeniably needed for these measures, but to build international confidence, Pakistan must also establish a transparent, independently audited, dedicated Disaster Fund that guarantees donors their contributions will reach genuine victims rather than being lost to mismanagement or politicisation.

Karachi, in the end, is not defined by monsoon rains, but by how governance continuously fails to repair its cracked systems. Floods certainly are a seasonal reality and therefore survivable, only if the city mends its leaking roof by keeping the political economy of floods in check.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer's own and don't necessarily reflect Geo.tv's editorial policy.

The writer is a civil servant. He can be reached at: [email protected]

Originally published in The News