Phew!! Phet now that wasn't phat..

Today I'm truly humbled. Humbled by the fact that i have witnessed and felt the weakness of our so-called technologically advanced world. Last week when the MET office announced that the cyclone phet was on its course straight for Karachi and the threat of a category 5 cyclone was imminent, I immediately started making contingency plans for such an event if the storm struck Karachi. I figured that in case of a storm; the possibility of a flood could not be overruled; hence I planned on filling my ready-to-eat food supply and store as much water as possible.

The prediction was a devastation measuring up to the havoc caused by the hurricane Katrina in the Atlantic,the likes of which have rarely been seen in this part of the world. But the reaction I showed was not shared by many I noticed. It seemed people didn't have the capacity to associate the name katrina with anything else than Katrina kaif. They seemed pretty calm to me, until Tuesday when the TV channels started shouting out about the cyclone and the masses as well as the government seemed to wake from their eternal sleep momentarily. The authorities were put on high alert, the navy divers and helicopters were called upon. Everyone in the country it seemed was now waiting for the moment Phet would strike. But in spite of all the arrangements, Pakistan was prepared for a massive damage. Smses were circulating around calling upon to pray and ask for Allah forgiveness. The supreme head of the Ahmadiyya Community also called for special prayers in tahajjud for Karachi.

The panic was felt in the air of Karachi until the day the news came in that the storm had slowed down and weakened to category-one. The storm did not even touch Karachi's beaches and was 70km far when the outer circle of the storm hit the land near badin. Although a lot of damage was done in badin and thatta areas, but the major devastation that was expected never came by the grace of Allah.
People expected the worst but Allah once again displayed His graciousness and reminded us that without Him we can never survive in this deadly and dangerous world. May God always bestow upon us His eternal blessings. Ameen.