Awareness For All

A couple of months ago Karachi, faced the all terrifying heat-wave. With countless deaths and victims the heat-wave did not only become the showstopper on every news channel, it also became the most trending news on twitter. The weeks lasting heat-wave killed people in masses sending out a wave of fear amongst the citizens of Karachi and the “city of light” became the “city of fright” with every single individual trickled in the thought of safety for the safety of his family and himself. So, the question arises, why did the heat-wave cause such a huge tragedy? Why did a natural phenomenon that can easily be dealt with cause a significant death toll in Karachi? The answer is quite simple, it’s awareness.
    The reason why the death rate during the heat-wave was significantly higher is that people do not know the necessary steps that should be taken when they face such circumstances. The problem of awareness is the reason why when people came to know about the heat-wave they couldn’t take necessary steps because they didn’t know what the necessary steps were, in the first place. Taking in consideration the humungous lack of knowledge that exists in the city, I believe that it comes under the mandate of the state to ensure that the flow of knowledge is maintained. It is the mandate of a government to let the people know about the heat-wave and also how to survive during a heat-wave attack.  It seems to be a stretch on how to educate millions people about the repercussions of a heat-wave and the key to countering it but on a basic level the knowledge can be transferred through different mediums. The government can take an initiative to start a program to raise awareness and to teach on a theoretical and practical level on how to help oneself and one’s family during a heat-wave. On the other hand for people who are unable to attend such programs, the use of television and radio and newspaper is an active option that will benefit everyone. The combined viewer reach of television, radio and newspaper is enough to spread awareness not only in a particular city on a national level, throughout the country. Once, this initiative is taken and these steps are acted upon, we will notice a significant rise in the knowledge of the people and once they become aware of such a scenario and how to deal with it, this knowledge will also transfer through conversation from one person to another.
   Essentially, I believe that in order to create awareness and to ensure the safety of the citizens of our nation, the government needs to take these steps to ensure that when in the future a heat-wave occurs, the people have necessary knowledge and are capable of taking necessary steps ensure the safety of everyone around them and themselves. Identifying the problem as lack of knowledge, I believe that once that knowledge gap is filled, future heat-waves will cause deaths but it will not be as catastrophic as the heat-wave we observed a few months ago and a reduction in the death-rate and the death toll during a heat-wave will be a victory for us against this natural phenomenon.