Needles, blood vials wash up on Karachi beach
Experts call for urgent cleanup as police cordon off Sea View Beach
Islamabad: After garbage-flooded streets and buzzing swarms of flies, Pakistan’s largest city Karachi is bracing for yet another crisis.
Tonnes of hazardous medical waste, syringes and blood vials have washed up on Sea View Beach (also known as Clifton Beach).
“There is kilometres of medical waste including hundreds of open needle syringes amongst other things, that has come in from the ocean,” tweeted Shaniera Akram, wife of Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram, along with pictures of the waste. “The beach is biohazardous and in a state of emergency.”
15 million
She warned citizens not to go to the beach to clean it, pointing out that biohazardous waste needs to be dealt with by professionals.
Within a couple of hours, Sindh Police cordoned off Karachi city’s most popular beach and declared a state of emergency.
Experts suggest urgent measures to clean Sea View Beach
Explaining how a Twitter post set alarm bells ringing, Afia Salam, Karachi-based environmental journalist told Gulf News: “As a passionate Pakistani and regular visitor to Clifton Beach, Shaniera Akram rightly called it an emergency. Her social media post helped create an immediate awareness, prohibiting people from the beach after which police also sealed off the area.”
However, she called for an investigation to find out how medical waste ended up on Karachi shores. “This is not part of the usual trash seen here. This must be investigated,” Salam said.
The incident has sparked concerns about government apathy towards improper medical waste disposal into the sea.
Talking to Gulf News, climate and water expert Imran Khalid said: “Our total disregard for environmental regulations has led to the open dumping of hazardous and untreated municipal waste, making our beaches heavily contaminated.”
12,000 tonnes
More than 80%
He urged the city government to immediately start cleaning the beaches. The next step, he suggests, should be “evaluation of waste material to identify the origin and continuous monitoring of beaches to prevent further dumping of hazardous waste.” He also called for implementation of existing waste management regulations.
“There is no proper and safe garbage disposal system in Pakistan which has now become a serious health threat to both humans and wildlife,” said environmentalist Maryam Shabbir, adding that Pakistan can learn from “neighbouring countries that are generating energy and bio fuels out of waste.”
Why is hazardous waste washing up on Karachi beaches?
The city’s over 15 million residents generate about 12,000 tonnes of waste every day, most of which is not disposed of properly, ending up in roads, drains and coasts. The coastlines and marine life face serious threats from industrial and domestic pollution. More than 80 per cent of hazardous waste from industries flows into the Arabian Sea untreated. Research by WWF-Pakistan revealed that around 580 million gallons of wastewater is discharged into the sea every day, forcing the “marine life to either displace or die.”
Would ‘Let’s Clean Karachi’ campaign help?
In the first week of August, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi launched the ‘Let’s Clean Karachi’ drive to fix the decades-long issues of waste management after appeals from frustrated citizens.
580 million
The PPP-led Sindh government often came under fire as the party has been ruling the province for the past 11 years and failed to introduce a proper waste management plan.
“Only the people of Karachi are suffering in this blame game of the politicians,” said Sibte Hassan, a Karachi-based journalist, referring to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pak-Sarzameen Party (PSP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Zaidi vowed to bring the city to the point of zero waste. But that was before the floods and Eid Al Adha after which the situation turned grim as streets overflowed with sewage, flies swarmed the city, making it a breeding ground for various diseases.
On Monday, Zaidi said a state of emergency should be declared in Karachi to fix the issues, and desperate citizens are ready to help in any way possible.
“Karachi and all who live here on our land and in our waters are literally choking to death. If we really want to clean up our city then now is the time” said Shaniera Akram in her post. “This is our home and we need to look after it.”