A Plague of Flies Descends on Karachi: ‘They’re Hounding People’

It is easy to talk a good game, exploit hatred, divide people. But flies do not care. Time to deal with real problems Karachi.

In 2019 people can't figure out that leaving garbage, blood, dead animals, feces and stagnant water around is Club Med for flies? Folks who have nuclear bombs can't figure out how to build state of the art drainage and sewage systems?

The problem isn't flooding. The problem is that the floods are constantly there, and the country does nothing to improve the infrastructure and eliminate the garbage and refuse from humans. From too many humans. Climate change and pollution are only a symptom, not the root cause. No amount of emissions control will help when the population expands exponentially in areas least capable to sustain growth. Education would help; no one needs 5-10 kids they cannot feed or house. We must educate women and provide birth control; time to stop talking about CO2 and start talking about protecting our forests and waterways, and birth control.

Pakistan needs to move 1 or 2 of its 49 Army divisions that are on the Indian border (of 50 all total I believe it has) to Karachi with the sole purpose of cleaning up the city. It will give the population a clean slate to start with and dispel the feelings of desperate helplessness that must now prevail. Lots more benefits as well with few to no downsides.

This reminds me of my 3 year stay in Cairo, Egypt, 2012 - 2015. The guide that I read prior to my arrival said, "there is garbage everywhere in Cairo, and there's nothing you can do about it." That was fairly accurate. Residents would pile their garbage on the sidewalks for pickup; first, feral dogs & cats would have their pick of what was there and of course leave a huge mess. Then, recyclers would dig out what they wanted and leave the rest. Finally, perhaps in the next week or two, a garbage truck would come by and take away the remainder. Meanwhile, pedestrians would be forced to deal with the stench, the mess, and of course, the flies. Some areas, like the Khan-al-Khalili marketplace, were kept inscrutably clean, with full time street sweepers and attendants - but this was the exception, not the rule. There is no doubt enormous dysfunction at the government level, and I'm sure Karachi residents, like those in Cairo, consistently add to the filth by tossing their refuse on existing piles of trash. But while there is plenty of blame to go all around, there is also plenty of responsibility that is not being met. Flies are attracted to filth - that is fairly obvious. And cleanliness isn't difficult - it just requires a community of people who do not wish to live in filth. Evidently Karachi - and Cairo - do not meet this particular criterion.

The face of overpopulation, the world's very real but little discussed, problem.

What do you purchase with tax cuts? Cities like Karachi.

I can't stand even one fly buzzing near me making that annoying noise much less an army of ubiquitous flies. Whenever I see a fly in my room I become obsessive finding ways to get rid of it. Even opening the window so it would be wise enough to fly out than for me to kill it. Sanitation matters in Karachi. They need to find the money to hire people to engage in a mass cleanup. And stop dumping solid waste into the water.

Maybe the Pakistan army was planning an experiment in biological weapons, using flies to attack India/Afghanistan and now the experiment has gone wrong. My grandfather and ancestors before him lived in Karachi. Boy am I glad they left. Lahore seems better.

Don't look if flies make you feel creepy. What is happening in Karachi is but one example of what is becoming an increasing global problem and yes, this could easily include cities in the US. Overcrowding, pollution and disease are quickly becoming more commonplace and It will happen in our cities without our realising until it is too late. Think Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Calcutta...and Indonesia has just announced it is going to build a completely new capital in Borneo as their present one, Jakarta, with a population of some 30 million, has similar problems but is also slowly sinking (literally) quite fast and will soon become unliveable. None of us should be complacent as to what is happening in these cities as soon it may well be happening in ours, if not happening already. All it takes is a major breakdown in basic services and we will arrive there too, very quickly and without a return ticket...

Pakistan moved its capital from Karachi back in the mid 1950’s for good reason, it wasn’t livable, it wasn’t manageable, it was disease ridden and effectively abandoned and predictably, everything bad there has gotten worse, much worse.

This is why we need open borders. Parts of the world are terribly overcrowded and will never break out of grinding poverty due to the birthrate. At this point migration from the Indian subcontinent to include Pakistan provides the largest number of immigrants to the US. If the US can get rid of Trump the borders can be opened with freedom of movement and really decompress places like Karachi, Calcutta, New Delhi and Mumbai and take pressure off Germany and Sweden. A Muslim having six or eight kids is not such a problem in the US or western Europe where the native birth rate is low. At some point most Pakistanis will live in Europe, England or the US and the majority of the population will be related in one or another way to a Pakistani.

Sounds like a failed state. Very sad for the people living there. Amazing to see how poorly the Middle East countries (and India) serve their people, compared to China for example, which started out equally poor in the post-WWII era.

Clean up often begins with idealistic and energetic young people. Cambodia and Phnom Penh in particular have well known and severe sanitation and garbage problems (though I don't recall a plague of flies). Groups of university students formed clubs to tackle the problem at a grassroots level, and then fanned out to educate the population about proper disposal methods. They make progress. As I recall, this was how environmental movements in the USA got traction: with the young. Karachi has a young population, and universities. They will be the agents of change, if they care.

Political corruption and religious fanaticism! Imagine, if people pour their destructive energy into planting a better garden...

Unfortunately, the entire political leadership of the country, at the federal, the provincial, and the local municipal levels have been criminally negligent in providing even basic civic services to the people in the largest city, the commercial capital, and the only functioning port in the country. The disturbing fact is that those ruling the province of Sindh and Karachi have knowingly, purposely, viciously, and vengefully neglected and refused to even pick up the trash from the neighborhoods and streets of Karachi, and other cities, ever since they took over power, over ten years ago. Sadly, the rulers are corrupt and inept, and the people are helpless and powerless. And the situation is becoming increasingly hopeless. In any civilized society such criminally negligent rulers would be held accountable, politically or legally, but in Pakistan they are above it all. They rule without any fear of accountability. And the people's misery continues.

Citizens of Karachi ! Clean up your garbage strewn city, make it spic-n-span and the flies will be gone. Stop using excuses ! It's time to be proud of your city !

And they want to wage a War over Kashmir ... A truly Distracted prime minister and country ...

Infestation of flies in Karachi show a bigger problem in subcontinent Loss of direction of state in spending money on military ,development of nuclear and ballastic missiles,Constant state of hostility with neighboring states ,emphasis on ideological rhetoric willful neglect of common needs of middle and lower class and neglect of burgeoning urban population This is compounded by corruption and avoidance of taxes by elite . This leads to underfunding of city goverments who cannot take care of basic needs like sanitation,transport ,urban planning and housing

While this is certainly disheartening, we in North America cannot be complacent. I am appalled at the number of empty bottles that can be seen strewn at the end of every exit from a major highway. What does it say about us as a society that we cannot even wait till we get home to properly dispose of our waste? Further, Canadians produce the most amount of garbage in the world on a par-capita basis and I am sure the US is not far behind.

If the flies are not taken care of quickly, the potent combination of another six weeks of heat, more garbage and monsoons along with billions of flies offer a very fertile ground for one or more epidemics at a scale that any city, let alone Karachi, can handle. Whatever disease it is, the flies would spread it super fast. Something is needed at war footing.

Those who sacrifice sheep, lambs or other animals should think twice before leaving the carcasses in the road during the summer. Surprise! They bring flies!

Looks, sounds and smells like the libertarian dream.

The role of government is to provide goods and services that cannot be offered by the private sector. In the case of Karachi, there is no role for government. The inexcusable actions of individuals can only be addressed by the same individuals. Clearing up heaps of garbage would only open up dumping space for the next sacrificial tsunami of entrails, and the cycle would continue. No government intervention should be required other than to provide a sanitary and sustainable dumping site, or a collection system. Each individual has to clean up their act, and their space, and not just move the garbage and offal around to the space just cleared by their neighbour, but get it to the collection stations and pay to have it transported to a landfill. Fat chance of that, and it's absolutely ridiculous. Imagine putting people like that in charge of something beautiful, fragile, and essential, like a rainforest. they'd probably end up burning it down...hey, wait a minute.

Pakistan should focus its efforts on infrastructure development; electricity, water and sewage treatment, roads and housing. Instead they squander borrowed money on jihadi groups, Kashmir and the military. Both India and Pakistan would benefit from a 50 year no aggression pact but India can afford to build a strong military and develop the country while Pakistan has to choose. So far, Pakistan has chosen poorly.

"Experts say this infestation was probably brought on by the combination of stagnant rainwater, which stood in the city for days, with garbage on the streets and waste left behind from animals slaughtered during the recent Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha." Do we need experts to understand that disposing of slaughtered animals in the street might cause a fly problem? Sounds like Karachi made its own bed.

It’s a sign...let the Kashmiris go before it comes to that first born thing!

Karachi happens to be the richest city in Pakistan and has a lion's share in Pakistan's economic activity. However, between the political infighting, finger pointing and contracts signed with Chinese companies, the city has little to show for huge sums it supposedly spends on sanitation.

and this is the country that is concerned about Kashmir? a country with no human rights and no religious freedom and self proclaimed Muslim state with full of flies and bugs wants to take care of Beautiful Kashmir!

This is not a new problem. The drainage system and the rivers are nothing more than channels to carry raw sewage out to the ocean. The flies and mosquito plagues have gone on for years. For example, the MacDonalds in Clifton, Karachi sits next to an open sewage drain. Dump trucks continually empty their load here and many other places. Education, caring politicians, would take several years to remedy the problem. However, I just don't see a fix for the next 500 years!

The photos tell this story, which is that this is a cultural problem. The people of Karachi clearly don't care about the well-being of their fellow citizens and the society more broadly. I don't care what type of municipal government inefficiency they have. Enough excuses. NO community should allow this squalor to exist.

Too many people in this world. This is our collective future if we don't wise up and halt population growth. We can have quality of life or a higher quantity of humans. We certainly will not have both. If life is like this, what is possibly the point of it?

When are we going to see human overpopulation as part of the climate change crisis? Human beings have exploded on earth in a very short period — increasing from from 3.7 billion to 7.8 billion in only 50 years. Think about that. In only 50 years, the human population has doubled. We are at crisis level population. Here. Now. But it seems that as long as certain religions and nations, Catholics, Evangelicals and Muslims feel compelled to control and oppress women, oppose birth control and abortions (in advanced nations and third worlds alike), as long as the male leaders of those “organizations” can feel pious, righteous, and powerful, then we are on a path of self-destruction.

I have a vivid memory of a time when I was 11 years old. My family had been traveling down dirt roads into the Amazon Rainforst by Jeep. On the paper map (yes it was some decades ago) we had plotted out where we would stop and explore. And where we there was some small specs of civilization where we could stop for lunch. When we out of the car in the town, town might conjure up a bigger sized encampment than it really was, where we had planned to eat we were overwhelmed with flies. Flies everywhere. You could not escape them. It was disgusting. We didn't even make from the car to the open air restaurant before we all decided there was no way we can eat or otherwise stay here here. I can't imagine a similar situation in city of 14 million +. At least we were able to get in our car and quickly leave that place. I truly feel for the people of Karachi. How horrible.

"Truly cleaning up Karachi — where it has become common to see garbage piled up on roadsides and in empty plots — would be a tall and expensive order." Interestingly, Rome, Italy also has a problem collecting its trash, reported the NY Times a while back. It is an understatement to say it is odd that a major modern city cannot process all trash for recycling. The ancient Romans figured out how to direct effluvia from a trough in the street and into a sewer, and yet, modern society hasn't fully instituted lessons learned about managing trash. The article suggests the fly infestation is the result of the monsoon compounded by incompetence, political infighting and bureaucratic intransigence and probably a lack of imagination To be fair to the Pakistanis, the Americans can't get their recycling sorted well enough to satisfy the Chinese business men interested in buying our recyclables. Sadly, the Pakistanis send a lot of its top talent to western universities, so they can see how a modern city is run (garbage collection, sewers, processing centers, etc.) so they really have no excuses for not making Karachi more livable. If Pakistan has enough money to buy jet fighter planes from the USA, develop a nuclear bomb capacity, and run a vast military infrastructure, and send their elite to universities overseas, then they have enough money to make their cities function sustainably. Demand ecology now, people of Karachi.