The business community in Karachi, already reeling from the coronavirus outbreak, is feeling an unprecedented free-fall after the rains.

Musician Kashan Admani had set up a state-of-the-art studio in the DHA. John Brandt, one of the best studio designers in the world, designed it. Unfortunately, it got destroyed on August 27.

Admani couldn’t enter the studio for three days as it was flooded with rainwater. “The estimated loss is around Rs 30 million,” he says.

Fifty-five year old Abbas Mirza has a small wedding cards shop in Pakistan Chowk. “My business has been destroyed, first by the lockdown, then the rains. I don’t know how I’m feeding my family,” he says.

Pointing to a bundle of paper reams, he says that each ream costs around Rs 3,500. “More than 20 reams got soaked in rainwater. I had wedding cards worth Rs 0.1 million. “All are ruined,” he says.

When asked if the government has approached him for compensation, Mirza shrugs – “No”.

Atiq Mir, the All Karachi Tajir Ittehad chairman, says the accumulated losses of shops, warehouses, factories and mills in Karachi would likely amount to Rs 25 billion. “Business loss of a day in Karachi amounts to Rs 4 billion. A week after the rains, some 40 percent businesses and markets are still closed,” he says.

Mir adds that the government representatives have approached them to assess the damage and formulate a compensation mechanism. “The government may devise categories of losses. But nothing is known yet,” he says, adding that the federal government should exempt businesses from payment of power bills as they are already suffering due to lockdown and now the floods.

Irfan Rizwan, the Karachi Electronics Dealers’ Association president, says that the electronic shops in Old City, Nursery, the DHA, and District Central have been severely affected — “We will have an idea about the total damage after a proper survey.”

The deputy commissioners of the affected areas have been directed by the government to assess specific losses and move for compensation. Asif Raza, assistant commissioner of Saddar Town, says that they are determining the loss of life and property through their staff and are verifying it with the police. “The data will be gathered in one week. It will be dispatched to the commissioner’s office after which a compensation mechanism will be announced,” he adds.

Relief commissioner, Shakeel Abro, refused to talk with TNS on the assessment of losses and disbursement of compensation.

Sattar Hakro, assistant commissioner of one of the worst hit areas of the city, Ibrahim Hydri, says that mukhtiarkars are looking into the losses and damages to public life and property through field surveys. “The data will then be handed over to the provincial government, which will then share the mechanism of compensation,” he adds.

Ismail Rahoo, Sindh’s minister for agriculture, says that the compensation package will be announced after the assessment of losses in all districts of the province. In the agricultural districts, he adds, “We might write-off the farmers’ debts and defer payments for old loans for one year.”

The Meteorological Department recorded a total of 484 mm (19 inches) of rainfall in August, with the highest daily rainfall of 130 mm at PAF Faisal Base on August 28.

Under Section 3 of the Sindh National Calamities [Prevention and Relief], Act - 1958, the Sindh government has declared 20 districts as calamity-hit. This includes all six districts of Karachi. The six Karachi districts are: South, West, East, Central, Korangi and Malir. The rest of them are: nine districts of Hyderabad division — Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Jamshoro, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and Dadu; three districts of Mirpurkhas division — Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Tharparkar; Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar.

The writer is a reporter at The News in Karachi.