Orangi

History

Following the Partition of India and creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a separate country for Muslims of India in 1947, a large influx of Muslim refugees from India began moving into Karachi. The Pakistani government began granting permission for refugees to settle on vacant land by 1950. Orangi Township was originally planned over by the Karachi Development Authority, and many of Karachi's squatter settlements were relocated here. The township was planned and developed with informal assistance from the city's municipal administration. Orangi did not qualify for government aid or community assistance, and the area's sanitation was extremely poor. in which the local community financed, designed and built their own low-cost sewerage system. As a result of the sense of ownership, the community maintained the sewerage system and streets itself. though the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board eventually began providing water supply to the settlement. In December 1986, Pashtun gunmen attacked the Aligarh Colony, which was home to a vulnerable population of Biharis who had recently been repatriated from Bangladesh. The municipality was described in a 1999 National Geographic article on Mumbai's Dharavi slum as the "largest shanty town in Asia." Orangi is in fact a lower-class settlement with basic amenities of life available to most of the people. Only some parts of Orangi Town can be characterised as a slum. At in size, it is "significantly less dense than most urban slums and also more structured". Ninety per cent of Orangi's streets are connected to sewage services. Ninety-six per cent of homes in Orangi have their own private latrine or toilet. Most homes in Orangi feature two or three rooms. By 2004, over 90% of households in Orangi were connected to the…

Geography

Orangi is bordered by New Karachi to the north across the Shahrah-e-Zahid Hussain, Gulberg Town to the east across the Gujjar Nala stream, Liaquatabad Town to the south, and Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate to the west. There are 13 official neighbourhoods, each with its own council, which has allowed the township to build its own sewer system. Orangi stretches out from the Khasba Hills, North Nazimabad and Paposh Nagar towards the northern parts of Karachi and covers approximately of land. The Khasba Hills forms a natural boundary between Orangi Town and North Nazimabad. The defunct City District Government constructed a road through the Khasba Hills connecting Orangi with North Nazimabad.

Most-observed species

• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  448
• House Crow

  Corvus splendens Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  418
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  323
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  307
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  306
• Common Tailorbird

  Orthotomus sutorius (Pennant, 1769) · Aves
  186
• Green Bee-eater

  Merops orientalis Latham, 1801 · Aves
  177
• Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta gularis (Bosc, 1792) · Aves
  177

Most recent

• M 4.8 — 2025-12-15
  38 km NW of Gadani, Pakistan
• M 4.2 — 2025-10-01
  53 km SW of Gadani, Pakistan
• M 4.6 — 2025-03-31
  55 km ESE of Uthal, Pakistan
• M 4.5 — 2024-06-03
  87 km SW of Karachi, Pakistan
• M 3.9 — 2021-12-08
  27 km N of Gharo, Pakistan
• M 4.5 — 2020-11-02
  16 km WSW of Gadani, Pakistan