Sun. Dec 15th, 2024

Social Media Is Now a Vital Lifeline for Flood Victims<!-- wp:html --><p>Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast</p> <p>Pakistan has been battered by one flash flood after another in the past summer—but the country isn’t new to rain wreaking havoc. In 2020, its financial capital Karachi saw a historic level of flooding that killed more than four dozen people. While it was said to be the worst flood in city history, it was made even more disastrous by the apathy shown by authorities in dealing with floods over the years.</p> <p>After 2020, though, people began to turn to social media in order to find better solutions.</p> <p>Atiya (a pseudonym) is a marketing executive in her 30s living in Karachi. When flooding gets particularly bad, she uses social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook to find routes that aren’t flooded to get to work. “I could only take so many days off work before my office no longer cared about the rain. I ended up trying to see if I could find a route that didn’t work,” she told The Daily Beast.</p> <p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-social-media-is-a-vital-lifeline-for-flood-victims-in-pakistan?source=articles&via=rss">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p> <p>Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/tips">here</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast

Pakistan has been battered by one flash flood after another in the past summer—but the country isn’t new to rain wreaking havoc. In 2020, its financial capital Karachi saw a historic level of flooding that killed more than four dozen people. While it was said to be the worst flood in city history, it was made even more disastrous by the apathy shown by authorities in dealing with floods over the years.

After 2020, though, people began to turn to social media in order to find better solutions.

Atiya (a pseudonym) is a marketing executive in her 30s living in Karachi. When flooding gets particularly bad, she uses social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook to find routes that aren’t flooded to get to work. “I could only take so many days off work before my office no longer cared about the rain. I ended up trying to see if I could find a route that didn’t work,” she told The Daily Beast.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here

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