KARACHI - The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has made all arrangements to combat the upcoming challenge of rain-related hazards, but the citizens need to be aware of, and be very careful about the possible threats and the safety steps. Announcing this at a news briefing, Jan Abbas Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer Distribution, stated that the KESC had an in-built system of facing the difficulties during Monsoon season, which had been upgraded by adding more staff and logistics, and by drastically reducing the response time to complaints. Also, better contact had been established with the local governments, particularly with the Nazimeen of all the towns. This system can only work successfully if the general public always keep in mind that the combination of electricity and water can be very lethal and pose a direct and immediate threat to human life, he added. Zaidi reminded the consumers that they should get the numbers of their houses, sub-lanes and streets clearly written on the nearby walls, so that the response teams of KESC could reach their address in the shortest possible time. He said that in case of a rain-related emergency, time factor would be very important, especially during nights, and the response teams would need very obvious signs of their destination. For the safety measures to be followed by the general public, he pointed out that on top of all was to avoid touching wet electricity poles and keeping away from the standing water pools which could get electrified through a fallen wire. Especially in darkness, the broken cables touching water could not be seen and could pose severe life risk. Particularly, the children need to be instructed about such threats. In such cases, only care could save lives more than any kind of help. People should not touch electric switches and appliances with wet hands. In reply to a question, Zaidi said that the KESC could instantly get to know of a break-up of all its high tension wires but have no system to monitor all the cables spread over 6,000 square kilometers of the Metropolis. He exerted the citizens to inform the utility of any breakage of cables and other such incidents. He also asked the over 17,000 employees of the utility to inform their fellow citizens of the safety tips through personal contacts. He further said that in rain emergencies, the costumer can call at: 4540919; fax at: 4540923; send SMS at: 0312-5372118; and email at: speakup@kesc.com.pk. While replying to a question, he said that the KESC is committed to combat corruption and theft. Theft is a conscious decision that one takes in full sense, he remarked and added that the KESC wants to change the culture of illegal use of electricity and the delay payment of bills. Theft at any level would not be tolerated. He expressed hope that the citizens would support the utility in these campaigns, which had been designed for their own benefit. He opposed to the idea that industrial production had dropped because of shortage of electricity in Karachi, making it clear that the utility had taken a strategic decision to supply uninterrupted power to factory areas.