August 19 started as a routine day for Karachiites — till the skies opened. By night, town of lights was submerged in darkness and despair: flooded roads, energy outages, stranded residents, and an amazing sense of chaos.
Karachi, a metropolis typically related to power and resilience, mirrored nothing however panic and worry that day. Whereas roads have dried and life could seem “again to regular,” the psychological scars stay.
For a lot of residents, the trauma of that night time lingers on — elevating a important query: are we overlooking the silent affect of pure calamities on psychological well being?
A working girl’s nightmare
For Sahar Manzoor, a banker, the expertise changed into a psychological ordeal.
“I used to be caught with colleagues within the financial institution all night time. Flooded roads compelled us to remain inside, however as a lady, the considered spending the night time outdoors dwelling was traumatic. I wasn’t petrified of the rain itself, however of what society would assume. That night time will hang-out me ceaselessly,” she instructed Geo Digital.
College students left weak
Medical college students Syeda Haya Batool Qazi and Kinza Javed had been caught of their college transport for hours as rainwater stuffed the streets. The frustration was not simply with the floods, however with the system’s negligence.
“Why didn’t they cancel courses?” Kinza requested in grief. “The rain was predicted. As an alternative of making certain security, college students had been instructed to depart within the night. We’re the long run medical doctors of this nation, but our security was compromised.”
Haya added: “The place had been the authorities? Certainly one of our classmates was compelled to stroll dwelling for six hours as a result of we had been drowning within the level. Is that this a joke?”
A citizen’s worry for the long run
For others, the trauma got here with scary flashbacks. Usman Faisal, who was caught for 4 hours, recalled scenes of destruction round him.
“Automobiles had been drowning, individuals had been stranded, some had been attempting to push their bikes. For a second, I remembered what occurred in KP throughout floods. I believed — if it occurs right here, Karachi isn’t ready. It felt just like the final day of my life.”
Invisible affect: local weather nervousness
Psychiatrist Dr Monica Vaswani explains that these experiences are usually not simply “dangerous recollections” — they’re signs of a situation often known as “local weather nervousness”.
“Local weather nervousness is triggered by disasters like floods, earthquakes, or heavy rains. Each these instantly affected and people ready helplessly at dwelling for family members can endure. Initially, individuals really feel numb, fearful, or anxious. However with out therapy, this may result in Publish-Traumatic Stress Dysfunction (PTSD).”
She warns that flashbacks, avoidance of affected locations, listening to imagined cries or chaotic sounds, and protracted worry are pink flags.
The Ministry of Planning, Growth, and Particular Initiatives stated that out of each 5 flood survivors in Pakistan, one wants psychological well being help. The American Public Well being Affiliation, one of many oldest and most credible well being our bodies, additionally notes that local weather disasters can have an effect on minds instantly, step by step, and even not directly.
As Dr Vaswani places it, the trauma isn’t at all times seen — “generally it comes quietly, in sleepless nights or fixed nervousness lengthy after the waters recede. In developed nations, remedy and counseling are a part of the rescue course of. Victims are provided psychological help instantly after bodily rescue. Right here, even bodily rescue faces delays — psychological well being doesn’t even come into the image,” she added.
Why it issues?
The Karachi rains of August 19 weren’t only a local weather occasion — they grew to become a psychological well being disaster. Survivors might always remember the worry, uncertainty, and helplessness they skilled.
As local weather change worsens, such calamities are anticipated to turn out to be extra frequent. Ignoring their psychological toll solely deepens the disaster. Consciousness, well timed psychological help, and authorities accountability are essential if we’re to guard not simply lives, however the minds and futures of residents.
