“Today, it’s Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country,” UN chief.
According to CNN, more than 33 million people have been affected by flash floods in Pakistan, killing 1500 people so far. One third of Pakistan is underwater due to unprecedented torrential monsoon rains, causing upward of $20 billion damages to an already ailing economy.
Villages of people, crops, livestock and buildings have been swept away in these super floods. Millions of people are living in makeshift shelters due to insufficient emergency supplies. In a video posted on YouTube, volunteers can be seen using a bed-frame to rescue people from deadly floods as emergency measures.
According to CNN, authorities in Pakistan have warned it could take up to six months for deadly flood waters to recede in the country’s hardest-hit areas. The added threat of waterborne diseases including cholera and dengue adds to more suffering. The biggest challenge in the aftermath of these biblical level floods will be the rehabilitation process.
As stated in the Indian newspaper Outlook, an estimated 16 million children have been impacted by “super floods” in Pakistan with at least 3.4 million of them needing immediate lifesaving support, according to the United Nations. “Young children are living out in the open with their families, with no drinking water, no food, and no livelihood, exposed to a wide range of new flood-related risks and hazards.”
According to BBC news, in a two day visit to flood ravaged Pakistan, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed, “deep solidarity with the Pakistani people over the devastating loss of life and human suffering.”
Guterres called on the international community to support Pakistan, arguing South Asian nations are disproportionately affected. “Pakistan has not contributed in a meaningful way to climate change, the level of emissions of this country is relatively low, but Pakistan is one of the most dramatically impacted countries by climate change, it’s the front line of the impact of climate change,” he said. The United Nations has appealed to the international community for $160m to help Pakistan as reported on the UN website.
This flood crisis is quickly turning into a major food crisis. With crops, livestock, and agricultural land damaged or destroyed, Pakistan will struggle to feed itself and the countries that depend on its food exports. With the global food supply chain interrupted after the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, this crisis has proved to be a double whammy for Pakistan.
According to Pakistani local newspaper Samaa, initial estimates of 65 percent of Pakistan’s main food crops—including 70 percent of its rice—have been swept away during the floods, and 3 million livestock animals have died. Pakistan’s planning minister says 45 percent of agricultural land is now destroyed. Less than 40 percent of Pakistan’s land is arable and with half of the population facing a lack of food security, Pakistan could take years to recover.
In an interview with Reuters, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said, “despite the fact that Pakistan contributes only 1 percent to the overall carbon footprint … we are devastated by climate disasters such as these time and time again.”
According to Vox, Pakistan is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on Earth outside the poles and rising global temperatures are causing them to melt rapidly.
You can donate on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees official website. https://donate.unhcr.org/int/en/pakistan-floods-emergency
