CATCH 22 Situation

Whole world is starting to realize that this epidemic of Covid-19 is here to stay and living with precautions needs to be the new normal.

Currently in Pakistan there is a lock down and forceful enforcement. Business are now trying to open and the situation is getting messier day by day. Govt efforts to enforce lock down are starting to fall apart. Govt does not have effective and trained workforce. The workforce that they have only know how to get extra meat out of the current situation. People have zero trust in them; as every one knows all these Govt enforcement will lead the way to looking the other way with them talking Chai Pani, Mithai, Quid-e-Azam AKA Bribe.

Govt Enforcement

1. Keep Shops Closed

• Solution by Traders: Sitting outside or near shops and opening store to provide the customer.
• Problem Caused: Trader in harms way sitting outside all day. Client going into a close shop with minimum social distance. Law enforcement raid the place arrest people and take them to Jail; where social distance cannot be ensured with over population. Trader is fined; and he is unable to pay the fine as his business is closed and he hardly has money to eat how will he pay fine ? He may go to Jail where again social distancing is major issue.
• Solution: Make Markets create self vigilance teams and self regulate. Keep it simple. Wear mask clean hands, Use sanitizers , create social distance. Don’t fill shops create marked waiting areas in the lobbies.

2.Transport Closed

• Solution by Rikshas: Starting to come on the road risking being caught.
• Solution by Vans: Starting to get on the road risking being caught.
• Solution by Rent a cars: Starting to get on the road risking being caught.
• Solution by Pillion Riders: Starting to get on the road risking being caught.
• Solution by Private Cars: They are hardly stopped anyway else Quid e Azam Zindabad.
• Problems Caused: Since very few Rikshas, Vans and rent a car on the road; the ones risking getting caught fill up to more than their capacity and hence causing more trouble with lack of social distancing. Again if they get caught they cannot pay fines and are taking to Jail or their cars impounded causing more trouble for the desperate and creating more situations of decreasing chances of social distances.
• Solution: Open transport with SOPs. Two passengers per Riksha; Riksha People will oblige as this is beneficial for them as they can earn more. Driver plus 3 passengers for 5 seater cars and Driver plus 5 for 7 seater cars. Vans two passengers per bench and one passenger in front. Buses can have one passenger per seat. For Riksha and rent a car it is beneficial for them so they can self impose else here police can intervene; since there will be no shortage of alternate rickshaws less people will break this. For Private cars Vans and Buses police can intervene; again soft reminders to start with; this is not hard to enforce as big vehicle stops are already examined and checked. Private cars should be enforced to follow the SOP. Bikes two passengers are OK as long as they are wearing masks and there are no kids and elderly. Movement of kids and elderly should be enforce strictly.

3. Stay Home Stay Safe: Govt has ordered everyone to stay home and stay safe.

• Kids Solution: Play outside; hear police siren run in.
• Adults Solution: Roam about needlessly; give essential grocery run excuse or run in when siren is heard.
• Problems Caused: Kids are playing freely on roads and causing greater damage as they take less care while playing and are more likely to put their hands in their month carry virus in. Adults needless going about bring unnecessary risk to themselves and their families.
• Solution: Parents need to be educated continuously via Social Media, Print and Electronic Media. Community Ucs and Streets have to self regulate. Get kids in the house. Adults can come to work during the day and stay in home later. Govt can intact its power to stop anyone going out after 8.

No answer is right but we need to quickly go out to self regulate. Get industry involved, make traders self regulate and make community self regulate. This is the only way forward. I know this all sounds simple and obvious goal of govt but this show off of work by Govt is causing more confusion and anxiety in people. It is abundantly clear any regulation enforced by Govt has short shelf life; due to lack of training and trustfulness of its workforce. Self/community enforcement seems only way forward. This is just my take and you have every right to disagree. I am realist and the situation is very bad; people are tired and are in need; they will risk their lives to feed their families. So Govt has to open up Businesses and transport by Community enforcement rather than using its corrupt work force that will eventually cause more harm.

AGAIN STAY HOME AND STAY SAFE is highly advisable but it is not practical unless there is balance. We are very undisciplined but a one month closure has scared most and this simple threat by Govt that they will close unless community self regulate should suffice for now. People will be out and about like crazy but here getting message to people is important. People will die and get infected way quickly but that will happen regardless. Flattening the curve is important but other developed county have goal set to the amount of patients their health care system bear. Our health care system is as it is at its limits and cannot coup with the influx in normal days. So what is our target for flattening the curve. This will spread and hurt the number of people slowly if flattened to a point but sadly with our health care system number of Deaths will be almost same. With opening things up with self/community restriction we can look for herd immunity which by looks of it our only hope. Again I am not an expert but this is what my view about the situation is. In my view Govt is over estimating its workforces capability and trustworthiness. There are definitely more capable people who are making decisions but people of Pakistan have no trust in Govt enforcers so Govt should work towards getting community enforcement in .

Pakistan Floods Appeal

In Pakistan, monsoon rains and floods are causing widespread destruction.

Over five million people have been affected with many losing their homes, farmland and belongings.
Some of the areas affected are still recovering from last year’s flooding, including Sindh province, which is once again one of the worst-hit areas.

Acres of damaged crops
Saifal Panhyar, a farmer from Khairpur in Sindh, said his family were lucky to escape as their house collapsed when the floods engulfed his village. Now, Khairpur is under five feet of water.

Panhyar said: “Our land is our sole source of income and the crops were just ready to be harvested but the continuous rain and now the flood water has badly damaged them.”

Emergency supplies
The risk of diseases spreading is high as 300,000 people have fled to temporary relief camps, but are living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.

Over the last few months, the British Red Cross has worked with the Pakistan Red Crescent and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to prepare for this year’s monsoon rains, getting aid into the most vulnerable areas, ready to be dispatched when the floods struck.

Since the floods hit, the Pakistan Red Crescent, with support from the Red Cross, has:

sent five mobile health units to provide emergency health support in six districts

set up two water treatment plants and produced over 300,000 litres of safe water

distributed food parcels and other aid such as tents, tarpaulins and kitchen sets to over 100,000 people.

Urgently needed funds
Thousands of people who’ve lost everything are in a desperate situation.

Please help us to help them by donating to our appeal today.

In the unlikely event that we raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help us prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters either overseas or in the UK.

(Source: RedCross)

Keep Me Out (Are You Addicted To A Website?)

Are you addicted to a website? Do you want to cut down on your visits but don’t know how? KeepMeOut can help. KeepMeOut creates custom, timed bookmarks that give it to you straight when you’re visiting a site too frequently. To create a bookmark for your favorite time-sink, you simply plug in the site address and specify how long a period of time should elapse before KeepMeOut warns you against visiting it.

From there out, when you use the time-tracked bookmark, it will either allow you to pass through to the site or direct you to a reminder page that tells you how long it’s been since your last visit.

(Source: Presurfer)

Economy Check

Economy Check Pakistan is an effort to inform the discussion about Pakistan’s economy with data about some of the urgent issues facing the country. Rather than advocating specific policy solutions to problems, the data here is meant to stimulate debate. As Pakistan decides on its budgetary priorities for 2011-2012, it is as good a time as any to reflect on the the economy.

This is a collaborative effort by economists and researchers. It is informed by data and inputs from a wide variety of organizations including the Jinnah Institute, the Pakistan Business Council, and a number of Pakistani government organizations as well as the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.

(Source: Economy Check)

Oneword.com helps get your creative juices flowing

Writer’s block is a drag. You just sit there staring at the full-screen, distraction-free editor that you spent forever tweaking so it would be just right. You’re all set up to write, and … nothing comes. Blank. The cursor blinks, the clock ticks by, and everything you can think of just seems trite and boring, like a stereotype of a story rather than the story you wish you could write.

Of course, I’m not talking about myself! Consider this a general comment on the human condition. I just found something that might come in handy if you ever find yourself in a similar situation: it’s a neat little Web service called oneword.

As you might expect, oneword gives you just a single word, and then it has you write about it. What’s not implied in the name is that you get just 60 seconds to do this. One word, 60 seconds, go!

It is a pretty invigorating experience. I couldn’t not write, really. Once your time is up, a small form pops up where you can email your text to yourself.

The service is free, and you can also open an account so that you don’t have to keep filling in your email and can access a few other features, such as “word ups” – a way to give and receive feedback for pieces of writing.

(Source Download Squad)

Rant Number 1

Every one I meet, see and hear is running in a rat race. Every one tells me I should run too but may be I am flat foot or just damn lazy, I just don’t get what’s the rush. Either I am not in touch with the current trends or may be I have been in isolation for so long that I have missed the train that led to materialism. Don’t get me wrong I love good things and I buy a lot of stuff but not for showing off or to get peer approval I buy it for my self. Every ones changing more and more people in my circle have started to assess people on what they have rather than who they are. I have been around some of the best people and seeing them change into approval seeking wannabes makes me want to help them get out of this rat race but I have no clue how? Or may be I do may be this rant will help them. At some level we all seek peer approval but to alter your whole life, career choice or even buying something just because some one else has it is crossing the line, at least in my view. We all dislike people who put price tags on every thing yet I see most people doing that these days, I am no saint but bragging about how much you bought a shoe for is just let keep it clean ill use words not classy. I love to chat but talking about he has that and I have that makes me want to puke, why is this world being transformed into approval seeking wannabes, may be tv or general human nature ; what ever it is I don’t like it. Any resemblance to any one I know is not coincidental it deliberate. Rant Over
Peace !!!

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Flooding in Pakistan

An estimated 1 million people have been affected by serious flooding in Pakistan.Northern Pakistan has been affected by serious floods – reports indicate that up to 1 million people have been affected.
Oxfam is there; they are already working in the affected areas and have sent in additional experts to boost the efforts of our existing staff, partners, and local authorities. They already know there is an urgent need for clean water supplies, but they will also be assessing other outstanding needs over the next couple of days.

You can help: donate now to Oxfam’s Pakistan floods response

(Image Source: Washington Post)