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CHAPTER V.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
Section 1.
Karachi is a small place as compared with other places where mosquito
destruction is carried on successfully. All the breed-
ing places are artificial, and not natural. There are
no water-courses, pools, etc., and the marshy area can be entirely ignored as it
exceptionally harbours larvae; and with the expansion of the city it is sure to
he reclaimed in future and thus cease to he a menace. The rainfall is negligible
in quantity and the adventitious breeding places can be easily kept under
control. There do not, therefore, appear any great physical obstacles in the
way of mosquito destruction. To add to the facilities in overcoming the same,
are the sandy porous soil and the heat of the sun. All collections of water,
artificial or natural, dry quickly because of the sandy nature of the soil.
Summary of the economic conditions, customs of the people, etc.—The
greater part of the population is concentrated in the northern half of the town.
Most of them are poor, and are attracted here by work from distant parts, e. g.,
Deccan, Konkan, Cutch and Gujarat ports, etc. They live in chawls or lines
closely built together with only one living room to serve for a good many of
the people. The rooms are dirty and often full of smoke and where there are
no women in the house the place is very unclean. Each of these houses has a
courtyard of its own which is utilized for keeping animals of all kinds, and thus
instead of the courtyard being a luxury, it becomes an abominable nuisance.
Water-supply.—On referring to old maps we find that there are twice or
thrice as many wells as there are now but they are all filled up. As to who
took the initiative and why they were filled up could not be ascertained.
Perhaps it was the pipe water-supply that did away with the necessity and the
present wells too are in a rotten condition because of disuse. Every house is not
provided with tap water, the pressure is low and the supply intermittent, and the
water in many cases has to be brought over from across the road. Big gharras
are used to store the water and a fresh supply is added everyday without
removing the remnants of the previous day. The first and paramount necessity,
therefore, of the city is to increase the water-supply to such an extent as to
enable every householder to dispense with the use of gharras and the wells.
Section 2.
The measures required for the prevention and destruction of these breeding
places fall into two classes :—
Those for—
I. Permanent breeding places.
II. Temporary breeding places.
These shall again be discussed under two heads—
A. General measures.
B. Special measures.
I. In the survey it has been shown that the commonest permanent breed-
ing places are—
1. Open wells.
2. Open and imperfectly closed house cisterns.
3. Garden and other tanks, fountains, tubs, etc.
4. In certain localities special places exist in the marshy areas and
the backwaters in mangrove swamps from the sea.
The first step of a general measure for controlling these, must be a strict
limitation of their number and no increase of their potential breeding places
must be allowed. At the present time wells are dug open or improperly closed,
cisterns are erected, fountains and tanks constructed, garden and other tubs
multiplied, without let or hindrance. The danger is great and the community
must be protected from further risk by stringent regulations. The existing