As dense showers wreaked havoc in the city on Monday this week with this season's heaviest rainfall yet, the Aga Khan University's Stadium Road campus was hit by urban flooding caused by a collapsed shared wall with the adjacent Pakistan Sports Board, in the southeast wing of the campus.
The rainwater inundated the Maintenance and Service Building which serves as the nucleus operating several critical operations throughout the campus. However, with an emergency management response already in place for natural disasters, maintenance, security and housekeeping teams at AKU were quick to tackle the situation and ensure complete safety of all persons on campus.
Paging systems were temporarily shut down, with alternative mobile phones distributed to staff in critical-care areas, and collaborative relief work between teams were initiated instantly to ensure areas of patient-care remained unaffected.
All operations and services, including COVID-19 testing sites, Department of Emergency, as well as all entrances to the campus remained open and fully functional.
Torrential rains in Karachi resulted in partial flooding of the AKU campus, which has been cleared. I am grateful to our staff who ensured continuity of high-quality patient care during this time of crisis. wrote Dr Shahid Shafi, Chief Executive Officer, AKUH Karachi, in a tweet on Monday to update about the situation.
Karachi's East district where AKU's campus is located was reported to receive the second-highest amount of rain (203.3 mm) following Keamari (231.75 mm) causing the government of Sindh to impose a rain emergency following the submergence of several residential areas and roads across the city.
Strong forecasts for even heavier spells of the monsoon in the coming week call for improved preparation and offer an eye-opening reminder to the pressing issue of climate change increasing cases of urban flooding in recent years. They also serve as a stark call for action for governments, institutions and individuals to play their parts in environmental sustainability and rehabilitation to avert the reoccurrence of such catastrophes.
As dense showers wreaked havoc in the city on Monday this week with this season's heaviest rainfall yet, the Aga Khan University's Stadium Road campus was hit by urban flooding caused by a collapsed shared wall with the adjacent Pakistan Sports Board, in the southeast wing of the campus.
The rainwater inundated the Maintenance and Service Building which serves as the nucleus operating several critical operations throughout the campus. However, with an emergency management response already in place for natural disasters, maintenance, security and housekeeping teams at AKU were quick to tackle the situation and ensure complete safety of all persons on campus.
Paging systems were temporarily shut down, with alternative mobile phones distributed to staff in critical-care areas, and collaborative relief work between teams were initiated instantly to ensure areas of patient-care remained unaffected.
All operations and services, including COVID-19 testing sites, Department of Emergency, as well as all entrances to the campus remained open and fully functional.
Torrential rains in Karachi resulted in partial flooding of the AKU campus, which has been cleared. I am grateful to our staff who ensured continuity of high-quality patient care during this time of crisis. wrote Dr Shahid Shafi, Chief Executive Officer, AKUH Karachi, in a tweet on Monday to update about the situation.
Karachi's East district where AKU's campus is located was reported to receive the second-highest amount of rain (203.3 mm) following Keamari (231.75 mm) causing the government of Sindh to impose a rain emergency following the submergence of several residential areas and roads across the city.
Strong forecasts for even heavier spells of the monsoon in the coming week call for improved preparation and offer an eye-opening reminder to the pressing issue of climate change increasing cases of urban flooding in recent years. They also serve as a stark call for action for governments, institutions and individuals to play their parts in environmental sustainability and rehabilitation to avert the reoccurrence of such catastrophes.
