Reading Time: 4 minutes More than a decade ago, there was a similar spike in monsoon rains in the region which caused unprecedented amounts of flooding and loss of life and resources. It took years for the country to recover and a lot of the related damages are yet to be rectified. That is how horrible things were at that time.
It is not news to anyone that the country, and the world at large, are going through a climate catastrophe.
China, to the East, is suffering one of the world’s most horrific heat-waves and droughts. Over here, in Pakistan, the monsoon season has lasted well over a month now, and the floods have resulted in lives lost-along with tens of millions of IDPs and massive amounts of agricultural, economic, and infrastructural damage that might take years upon years to recover from. If we ever recover.
The country was already going through incredible political instability coupled with fears of default pending IMF loans, and now the situation has gotten much, much worse. The ideology of putting out fires, as they come, and trying to plug a leaky boat in the middle of a storm has led to a nation sorely depleted of its spirit, morale, and materiel. And yes, the word “Materiel” is used here, because this is no less a war waged by the common man against so many man-made and natural calamities that seem to break upon us incessantly.
There is no need to sugar-coat this one folks, there needs to be a serious look into what is going on as fifteen percent of all Pakistanis are now officially IDPs. Billions upon billions of rupees worth of agricultural production, which is already not enough for the country I might add, has been swept away by the flood.
In this article, we will look at the cold, hard facts of the current flooding situation in our country, along with a historical analysis of these kinds of situation from our past. What can be done by our future generations to prevent this, and what can our beaten population do now to help each other in these paradoxically prevalent unprecedented times.
So let us begin.
To put the current crisis into perspective, the last time something like this happened was in 2010.
More than a decade ago, there was a similar spike in monsoon rains in the region which caused unprecedented amounts of flooding and loss of life and resources. It took years for the country to recover and a lot of the related damages are yet to be rectified. That is how horrible things were at that time.
“..killing more than 1,700 persons, affecting over 20 percent of the land area, more than 20 million people, and causing loss of billions of dollars..” according to a special report of flood assessment by the Pakistani government. This was how things were in 2010, and it was stated to be one of the worse catastrophes that the country had faced.
Now, more than a decade on, the problem is far worse-
“With 33 million people affected, and damage exceeding that which was caused by the devastating 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods, an emergency response is critical to ensure as many lives as possible are saved. According to a variety of different data and evidence, 3600km of roads, 356 communication bridges, 1142 shops and 2 million homes have been partially affected or completely destroyed by the floods so far”. This was from a report by the OCHA.
According to the climate minister of Pakistan, Ms Shireen Mizari:
“Literally, one-third of Pakistan is underwater right now, which has exceeded every boundary, every norm we’ve seen in the past”.
The number reported so far, of deaths, is devastating, but quite a far bit less than the amount of people that will either die from exposure, illness, and even hunger in the coming months. The country’s supply-chains have been compromised, along with billions of rupees worth of crops.
“Total damage estimates exceed US$10 billion (£8.6 billion), and further disruption to the country’s economy and critical food production is inevitable.”
Already suffering from inflation and high rates of unemployment, the burden of these IDPs and treating and housing the effectees will drive up taxes and raise prices. Prices that the common man can no longer afford. Things were already bad, and now they are headed towards a direction where the situation has become almost impossible to handle.
António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said that this is a signal to the world to step up climate action:
“Today, it’s Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.”
We have been talking about the reasons for these floods for quite some time. Climate change, artificially driven global warming, and lack of preparation on our part are largely to blame. The other two, unfortunately, are out of our control. We can not be expected to deal with them on our own.
It is no secret that the biggest reasons for the flooding has been that there was a spike in the rains:
“However, record rainfall fell over Pakistan in several bursts from mid-June to late August with large swathes of the country receiving a completely unprecedented 500%-700% of their usual August rain”.
However, the third factor is one that was in our hand. We had more than a decade to shore up our defenses against massive floods that we know can happen. And as climate change is happening, the evidence points towards similar tragedies in the future.
“There is emerging evidence that this confluence of factors may occur more regularly as the climate changes. If such trends continue, then flooding in Pakistan and other simultaneous extremes across the northern Hemisphere will happen more often in the future”.
The country did not have the infrastructure to handle the massive volumes of water flowing through our rivers. Coupled with the damage done to our dams and reservoirs, it is evident that we needed to increase the capacity for our dams and barrages years ago. We did not learn from what happened in 2010 and 2017 and yet again the lack of foresight of our leaders has been made evident.
There are a few things that need doing, on our part, to mitigate the damage done in these floods, and try and reduce the damages of future flooding.
Firstly, we need better coordination of resources, along with faster mobility to prevent damages caused by floods. This was impacted severely by the lack of governmental coordination due to political instability. Most of our attention was on political manouvering and point-scoring than flood affectees. Better dams and infrastructure needs to be constructed to prevent damage and use the excess water for draught times that inevitably come later on.
Secondly, we need to advocate for climate-change policies on the global stage. We are contributing to the problem and being affected by it on a disproportionate level. Other countries reap the rewards of burning fossil fuels and we pay the price.
Lastly, we need to pull together to help the affectees and IDPs of our country. Houses destroyed, schools destroyed, property finished, crops no more standing. Millions of people will need the help of the rest of the country to get back on their feet.
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