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This is the result of the floods that hit Pakistan in the country.
Dubbed the “monster monsoon of the decade” by Pakistan’s climate change minister Sherry Rehman, torrential rains in the region have killed at least 982 people since June, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Every 24 hours, the agency records hundreds of men, women, and children injured or killed by landslides, flash floods, or drowning.
“Pakistan is living through a serious climate disaster, one of the most difficult in this decade,” Rehman said in a Twitter video. “Right now, we are now at ground zero on the front line of extreme weather events in heat waves, forest fires, flash floods, multiple glacial lake outbursts, floods, and now this decade’s monster monsoons. It has caused unrelenting havoc across the country. “
The unprecedented flooding – worse than Pakistan’s “great flood” in 2010, which affected 20 million people – has strained the country’s resources, prompting leaders to call on the international community to help with relief efforts.
One of the hardest-hit provinces, Sindh, has requested 1 million tents for displaced residents, Rehman told Reuters. But there are not enough tents, and people are taking refuge in makeshift shelters in school buildings and mosques, he said.
The streets are filled with stagnant sewage, and the risk of water-borne diseases is high.
“This is clearly the climate crisis of the decade,” Rehman said. “It’s no fault of our own,” he added, noting that Pakistan emits less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Global warming has caused 7,000 glaciers in Pakistan – the largest number outside the poles – to melt, causing glacial lake outbursts triggered by heat waves in the country.
This year, extreme weather events like droughts, heat waves, and floods affected all parts of the world.
In Africa, floods have affected tens of thousands of people in Chad and Gambia, while nearly 4.6 million children in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are threatened by severe malnutrition following droughts in the region, according to the UN Office. for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a drought-induced drop in water levels has revealed underwater artefacts, while three ancient Buddha statues have resurfaced after water levels dropped in China’s Yangtze River. And in Dallas, a day of summer rain wreaked havoc on a city in the midst of a Texas drought.
Weather disasters like drought are inseparable from human-caused climate change. The planet has warmed 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, according to NASA, and this is causing disaster. Ending this vicious cycle requires drastically reducing our dependence on climate-destroying fossil fuels.
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