These are the devastating effects that Pakistan’s deadly floods are having on 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 National Disaster Management Authority.
Every 24 hours, the agency lists hundreds of men, women and children who have been injured or killed from collapsed roofs, flash floods or drownings.
“Pakistan is experiencing a severe climate catastrophe, one of the harshest in a decade,” Rehman said in a video on Twitter. “We are, right now, at ground zero on the front line of extreme weather events in an unrelenting cascade of heat waves, wildfires, flash floods, multiple glacial lake outbursts, flooding , and now the monster monsoon of the decade is wreaking non-stop havoc across the country.
Unprecedented flood — worse than Pakistan’s 2010″super flood“, which affected 20 million people – overwhelmed the country’s resources, prompting leaders to urge the international community to join in the relief efforts.
One of the hardest hit provinces, Sindh, has requested 1 million tents for its displaced residents, Rehman Told Reuters. But there are not enough tents and people are seeking shelter in makeshift shelters in school buildings and mosques, she said.
The streets are filled with stagnant sewage and the risk of waterborne diseases is high.
“This is clearly the climate crisis of the decade,” Rehman said. “Without fault on our part,” she added, noting that Pakistan emits less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Global warming is causing Pakistan 7,000 ice cream parlors – the largest number outside the poles – to melt, causing glacial lake explosions triggered by heat waves across the country.
This year, extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves and floods affect all regions of the world.
In Africa, floods have wreaked havoc on tens of thousands of people in Chad and The Gambia, while nearly 4.6 million children in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are at risk of severe malnutrition following severe drought in the region, according to the United Nations office. for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the drop in water levels caused by drought is revealing underwater artifactswhile three ancient Buddha statues have resurfaced after water levels plunged in the Yangtze River in China. And in Dallas, the equivalent of a rainy summer in a day wreaked havoc on the city amid a Texas drought.
Weather disasters such as droughts are inextricably linked to human-induced climate change. The planet has already warmed by 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, according to NASA, and that makes disasters worse. To stop this vicious circle, we will have to drastically reduce our dependence on climate-polluting fossil fuels.