One Year On from Historic Floods: Pakistan is a Nuclear State in Crisis

For those that think climate impacts on the poorest of the poor do not affect them, consider the political instability of a nuclear armed state, with a formidable domestic Islamic jihadist movement, and nuclear weapons.

Guardian:

A year after Pakistan’s worst floods in living memory, a report by Islamic Relief Worldwide has revealed the devastating long-term impact on people, especially children, and argued that rich nations must compensate those countries most affected by the climate emergency.

Researchers from Islamic Relief who talked to people in the flood-affected areas found 40% of the children they surveyed had stunted growth and 25% were underweight as families struggle to access food and healthcare. About 80% of mothers reported sickness among children, with outbreaks of diarrhoea, malaria and dengue fever increasing.

Women and girls reported being particularly affected, with pregnant women still struggling to access health services and girls most likely to be underweight. Many of the women displaced by the flooding do not have the privacy to breastfeed, meaning poorer health for their babies.

The flooding in Pakistan in August and September 2022 – described by UN secretary general António Guterres as a “monsoon on steroids” – led to the deaths of more than 1,700 people and 33 million losing their homes, land or jobs. About 800,000 cattle and other livestock perished and 28,000 schools and health clinics were damaged.

Speaking at the launch of the report in Islamabad, Waseem Ahmad, chief executive of Islamic Relief Worldwide, stated: “No amount of financial aid can compensate those who have lost loved ones and seen their homes and everything they own destroyed. But we need to see climate justice, where the biggest polluters pay for the damage and destruction caused by climate change.

“As climate-related catastrophes increase, it is the poorest and most vulnerable people who bear the brunt of the suffering. They are the ones most likely to live in fragile homes and least likely to have savings to fall back on, or assets to sell, or any kind of ‘Plan B’ when floods hit and crops and livestock are wiped out.”

Islamic Relief:

Without significant and meaningful intervention, the struggles and crises faced by marginalised populations will continue to grow. The IPCC predicted in 2021 that the melting of glaciers and freshwater depletion could entirely eliminate Pakistan’s freshwater supply by 2050.68 To prevent the further entrenchment of poverty and suffering and promote resilient building practices and sustainable change, it is critical that the voices and leadership of local communities — particularly those

that are the most vulnerable within such communities — are embedded into climate action.
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“No words can describe the shock we are living through or how the face of the country lies transformed. For 40 days and 40 nights a biblical flood poured down on us, smashing centuries of weather records, challenging everything we knew about disaster, and how to manage it. Pakistan has never seen a starker and more devastating example of the impact of global warming. Life in Pakistan has changed forever.”

Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani Prime Minister, September