Pakistan is currently dealing with the aftermath of one of the worst floods in recent memory as a result of the climate crisis. Climate change is affecting the entire world altering weather patterns and causing natural disasters.
While Pakistan was facing the monster monsoon, Europe, China, and other parts of the world were suffering from a severe drought. According to official reports, the 2022 flooding has impacted about 110 of the 150 districts in the nation.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Pakistan has reported that this year the country has received 133 percent more rain this monsoon than usual.
As a result, sadly, 33 million people have been impacted by the flash floods, and around 1000 people have lost their lives. Moreover, as per NDMA estimate, more than 100 districts in the country have been severely impacted by torrential rains.
Understanding the phenomenon of Monsoon
To understand the connection between monsoon and the ensuing floods in Pakistan, we need to first understand what actually monsoon is.
A monsoon is a seasonal shift in the direction of a region’s prevalent, or strongest, winds. Throughout much of the tropics, monsoons generate rainy and dry seasons. They always blow from cold to warm locations.
Most of Pakistan and adjacent countries’ climate is influenced by the winter and summer monsoons. It is also noteworthy that the Indian Ocean is most commonly linked with monsoons.
There are two types of Monsoons; Summer and Winter. Heavy rainfall is a characteristic of the summer monsoon. Typically, it takes place from April through September.
Warm, humid air from the southwest Indian Ocean rushes toward countries including Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, & Myanmar as winter comes to a conclusion. These places experience a humid environment and heavy rainfall during the summer monsoon.
The summer monsoon is essential to Pakistan. In Pakistan, it begins in July and lasts through September. The northeastern and southwesterly prevailing winds of the monsoon season alternate for half of the year.
For instance, agriculture depends on annual rainfall. Pakistan’s lake, river, and snowmelt areas lack substantial irrigation facilities. Aquifers or subsurface water reserves are small or sparse.
The summer monsoon fills aquifers and wells for the entire year. Some crops that depend on the summer monsoon include rice and tea. In addition, the weather phenomenon is also important for businesses in Pakistan.
Electricity, the backbone for running efficient businesses and the country’s economy is mainly provided by hydroelectric power stations in the area by using water that is collected during the monsoon season.
The economy of the region suffers when the summer monsoon is late or poor. However, it also suffers in case of a ‘monsoon on steroids’ unleashing devastating floods as it did in Pakistan this year.
In case of a late or insufficient monsoon, fewer people are able to raise their own food, and big agribusinesses are unable to sell any products. It then becomes important to be imported by the government in case of either shortage or destruction.
Strong summer monsoons can do a lot of harm and cause floods. Floods, however, can wreak havoc on the area when the summer monsoon is heavier than anticipated. It is possible for entire neighborhoods to drown.
2022 Floods in Pakistan
Pakistan’s sense of complacency has been further exposed by climate change and this year’s torrential floods. Pakistan as well as other developing nations are well known for its haphazard planning, quick fixes, and reactive management.
It is pertinent to note that Pakistan ranks eighth on a German Watch Report’s protracted Climate Change Risk Index 2020. Numerous other reports have also consistently emphasized Pakistan’s vulnerability.
However, despite numerous warnings, indifference at the government level persisted. Also, flooding is one way that climate change is currently displaying its starkness. Rainfall during the monsoon season is a major contributing factor to floods in Pakistan.
The most severely affected province has been Balochistan, then Sindh, South Punjab, & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In this context, Balochistan’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) maintains that more than 200 people have died, including 58 children.
Aside from that, approximately 10,000 people have also been uprooted from their homes. While 40,000 homes were damaged by floods, of which 20,000 were completely destroyed.
Crops on nearly 700,000 acres have been completely destroyed. The province has lost a whopping $10 million.
Likewise, a local news station reported that 10,000 people have been uprooted from their villages in Sindh and 400 mud homes have collapsed. Furthermore, South Punjab also had a difficult time.
According to official claims, 278 villages have suffered damage as a result of flooding in the irrigation system “Rod Kohi.” Similarly, 198 000 acres of crops were damaged, and 572,000 acres of land were destroyed.
The floods have caused significant agricultural damage, with crops being destroyed and livestock being lost. This has had a major impact on the country’s economy, which is heavily reliant on agriculture.
In addition, the destruction of infrastructure has made it difficult for aid to reach some of the most remote and hard-hit areas.
Also, the floods have also had a major impact on public health. The standing water left behind by the floods has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
This caused an increase in the number of cases of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. In addition, the lack of clean drinking water and proper sanitation also led to an increase in waterborne diseases.
Nevertheless, the people affected by the floods are receiving assistance from not only the Pakistani military, NGOs, & the civil administration but also from many international organizations & aid groups to provide food, water, & other supplies to those in need.
Despite these efforts, the situation remains dire for many people in Pakistan and the number of fatalities is steadily rising thus, the figures mentioned above are not constant.
Floods in the history of Pakistan
Regretfully, Pakistan has experienced many floods in the past, but none of them have affected the country on this grand scale. According to the Federal Flood Commission, Pakistan experienced 20 major floods between 1950 and 2012.
Consequently, 5,994,459 square kilometers of land were impacted over 62 years, 11,239 people perished and the national economy has lost more than Rs 39 billion.
In late July and early August 2010, the Indus River flooded in Pakistan causing what is thought to be one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in Pakistani history.
Rain was the main cause of the 2010 floods. According to one study, the 2010 superflood was caused by warmer oceans and warming in the Arctic, which had an impact on the jet stream, a high-level wind that encircles the planet.
In this vein, the unusually intense monsoon rains this year have been attributed to La Niña being visible on the NASA rainfall anomaly map.
La Niña is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of El Niño. It is part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department also issued a warning on June 21, just like this year, that urban and flash flooding could happen in the country’s northern regions from July to September.
According to meteorologists, a natural climate cycle caused by variations in the Pacific’s temperature and wind might also have contributed to the 2022 floods in Pakistan, similar to 2010.
At the time of the monsoon in Pakistan, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (Enso) appeared to be in its La Niño phase. According to some metrics, La Niño was acting very strongly.
Comparatively, 2022’s flooding has caused greater damage to the country. Also, in the future, disasters will become more frequent as the climate continues to worsen, what with Pakistan being one of the worst affected countries due to climate change.
The phenomenon has dramatically altered precipitation patterns in the country and is primarily aggravated by human activity. According to a 2019 UN report, “Human actions have badly altered 75% of the total land.”
Climate crisis: The prime suspect for 2022 Floods
The devastating scale of Pakistan’s 2022 flood is primarily attributable to the climate crisis. However, the incipient catastrophe is most likely the result of a deadly confluence of elements.
These include the vulnerability of the poor population, the steep mountain slopes in some areas, the unexpected collapse of embankments and dams, and some natural climate fluctuations. The magnitude of the flood has been alarming.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister, claimed that a continuous cycle of monsoons like this year’s had never occurred before. Huge areas of the nation went underwater as a result of eight weeks of nonstop torrential rain.
It is also noteworthy that rainfall is getting heavier all over the world because warmer air holds more moisture. Scientists are already investigating the extent to which rainfall and flooding are being caused by global warming.
2022’s “superflood” was made more likely because of the intensified rains brought on by global warming. Since 2010, Pakistan has experienced regular heatwaves, wildfires, and flooding.
Furthermore, a 2021 study found that each 1°C increase in global temperature resulted in 5% more rain, intensifying the South Asian monsoons.
According to Dr. Liz Stephens, an Associate Professor of climate risks and resilience at the University of Reading in the UK who is a part of a global flood forecasting system, the current floods would have been anticipated less frequently than once every century.
She said that the destruction of river embankments and flash flooding were two important causes of the high death toll during the 2022 floods.
Some areas where the water quickly runs off steep slopes had been hit by intense rains. It was very challenging to give people adequate warning of flash flooding and to evacuate them quickly.
Additionally, river embankments were destroyed. There is also a chance that deforestation sped up some areas’ rain runoff. On the Kabul River, which empties into the Indus, dams were even been destroyed.
Conclusion
It goes without saying that Pakistan is in trouble because of people’s ignorance of climate change as well as poor governance. What’s more, Pakistan loses almost $8 million annually as a result of the lack of a disaster management system.
Political vengeance has sapped the leadership’s capacity for resolving contentious issues, impacting the political vision and foresight.
This never-ending cycle of political retribution would carry on. A two-pronged approach is desperately needed: on the one hand, we must focus on combating climate change, and on the other, we require a strong flood management system.
However, it is regrettable that the media has not effectively raised awareness about the threat of climate change. Even now, when floods have devastated a significant portion of Pakistan, the media is preoccupied with political issues.
Our society has become very extremely polarized and the media, which otherwise could’ve been a powerful tool to create awareness, no longer maintains objectivity.
The aftermath of the devastating floods of this year is only a preview of what we can expect in terms of poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and disease if we do not address climate change and the resultant natural disasters.
Sadly, we are not good at learning from history, and reactive management is our only long-term strategy.
