*3.3.1. District Thatta*

Thatta is an ancient city of the Indus delta situated about 100 km from Karachi connected via the national highway. The district Thatta is bounded on the north by district Jamshoro, on the east Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin districts, on the south (Rann of Kutch) and Arabian Sea and on the west by Karachi district. The total area of the district is 17,355 sq. km, whereas the population of the district is around 1.20 million (**Figure 7**).

Communities from the following villages were visited as part of the field survey.


**Figure 8.** Research team approaching Bhori Creek, two small adjacent islands can be accessed by boats only.

Almost all surveyed villages have no electricity from national grid and rely on solar panels provided by local NGOs to recharge their cell phones and watch TV occasionally. No land lines phones are available and GSM networks are weak, partial, and occasionally available at certain locations in the surrounding. None of the villages are connected by roads and the only access is through boats that are also used to bring drinking water in canes/tanks and daily groceries for the households from nearby city, that is, Keti Bandar (**Figure 8**).

low literacy rates resulting communities' inappropriate level of understanding and responding

Ten such villages were selected for study of the capacity to receive tsunami warnings. Eight are located in Sindh Province—in Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin districts, mostly located in the Indus Delta—and the other two are in Gwadar District of Balochistan Province. All 10 were visited for field observation of the current situation with regard to the delivery of official

Thatta is an ancient city of the Indus delta situated about 100 km from Karachi connected via the national highway. The district Thatta is bounded on the north by district Jamshoro, on the east Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin districts, on the south (Rann of Kutch) and Arabian Sea and on the west by Karachi district. The total area of the district is 17,355 sq. km, whereas

Communities from the following villages were visited as part of the field survey.

**Figure 8.** Research team approaching Bhori Creek, two small adjacent islands can be accessed by boats only.

the population of the district is around 1.20 million (**Figure 7**).

**a.** Somar Dablo village (Phirt Creek)

**b.** Siddique Dablo village (Tippun Creek)

**c.** Dilli Sholani village (Khobar Creek)

**d.** Tayyab Jutt village (Bhori Creek)

warnings.

146 Tsunami

tsunami warnings.

*3.3.1. District Thatta*

These villages lack basic facilities in education and health; the nearest health facilities available are miles away; at Sakra, Gharo, and Keti Bandar cities. The literacy rate is near zero.

Fishing is the main occupation in this area and women make handicrafts for additional income. Residents of this area lack a local source of clean drinking water and have few sanitation facilities. Freshwater in tankers is purchased at a rate varying from PKR 1000/‐ to 5000/‐ (US \$ 10–50) per tanker in different villages except Tayyab Jutt village (Bhori Creek) where wells are dug up for water.

**Figure 9.** Broken solar panels require maintenance and repairs; the only source of power to recharge torch and mobile phone batteries.

As a result of inadequate sanitation and health facilities, most residents are exposed to diarrhea, fever, and flu. The daily sustenance of residents is on fish and vegetables that are purchased from Keti Bandar town due to unavailability of local grocery shops in the village.

For communication, most households rely on radio signals and cellular phones. However, these villagers are not very fond of listening to the news broadcast by radio. They prefer watching television using solar panels/generator and even this mode is not used for watching televised news on popular channels. Televisions in these households are used as a mode of entertainment to watch movies using solar batteries and generators as power source (**Figure 9**).

DRR training for emergencies has been provided by WWF‐Pakistan to communities of Dilli Sholani village (Khobar Creek). Villagers were glad to receive the training and appreciated the initiatives taken by the local NGOs but mentioned the inconsistency and follow‐up of such activities.


Further information of the surveyed villages is given in **Tables 1** and **2**.

**Table 1.** Communities' structure‐related data nontrivial to surroundings.

Challenges and Opportunities for Reducing Losses to Fast-Arriving Tsunamis in Remote Villages Along the Coast of Pakistan http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/64897 149


**Table 2.** Communities' structure‐related data trivial to surroundings.
