Is Karachi really below the sea level.
Will Karachi sink in the sea by the year 2060?
Let’s discover
“City of Lights” Karachi is home to 20 million people
And nowadays is suffering from worst rains and floods in its history
Flood water will recede in coming days somehow
But the devastation caused by it will be engraved in minds of Karachites for long
Another more dangerous threat
which can cause long term devastation is of “Rising sea levels”.
Sea level is the average level of ocean
which is taken as a reference for elevation measurement of different places on earth.
For example, Mount Everest, largest peak in the world is 8848 meters above sea level
And Death Valley California is 86 meters below the sea level
But does the sea level always stay constant?
This is not the case
Sea levels are rising across the globe due to 2 main reasons
Large amount of Carbon dioxide is entering our atmospheres due to unchecked use of fossil fuels
which is the primary reason for global warming.
Due to increasing earth temperatures, ocean temperatures are also on the rise
And hot water needs more space as compare to cold water (Due to expansion)
2nd reason is melting of glaciers due to increasing earth temperatures,
Which are causing further increase in sea levels
On average, Karachi is 103 m above the sea level
But some places are 5m below the sea level
Sea level on the coast is rising by 1.1 mm per year due to global warming
Major portion of Malir has already been affected by water
And In Badin & Thatta, sea has intruded 67 km inwards towards the land
In 2015, a report was presented in Pakistan senate
In which a concern was shown that if sea level rise is not reined in
Then whole Karachi will be under the sea by year 2060
But, Is Karachi the only city of the world which is facing this problem?
Let’s find out
Rising sea levels are a cause of concern for many cities of the world.
Indonesia’s capital Jakarta is the fastest sinking city in the world
Ocean water is occupying the land by 25 cm every year
And this city of 10 million seems to be sinking fast
Hence, the citizens have no other choice but to migrate to higher lands
Rising sea levels are a time bomb
which is slowly taking the world towards the brink of destruction
What is the solution of this problem?
How are other countries dealing with this problem?
And what Karachi can learn from the world in this regard?
People of Netherlands are called the best water managers of the world.
50% of their country is below sea level
But from half a century, people of Netherlands have kept the water away from their lands by building strong walls and dykes
Recently, Jakarta has also awarded a contract to a Netherlands firm for construction of dykes along it’s coast
In future, this model of dykes can also be implementable for Karachi
By investing in clean and green energy projects like Solar systems and Wind energy,
reliance on oil and gas can be reduced
which can be helpful in reducing carbon emissions and global warming
In addition, we will have to grow Mangrove forests on the coastal belt on emergency basis
Roots of mangroves hold the coastal soil together,
so that it doesn’t dissolve in the sea
Karachi is jugular vein of Pakistan’s economy
and a major portion of Pakistan income comes from Karachi
The time has come now
that work is done on war footings to save the city from future threats of climate change.
If you liked the video, please press the like button
Subscribe to our channel Curiosity Studio
And press the bell icon
so that you may not miss our future videos
We’ll keep you posted with interesting facts in future as well
