Pakistan suffers the impact of the climate crisis after months of flooding that have left more than 1,100 dead in all the country. Some countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom have announced humanitarian aid in recent days to alleviate the disaster, but the monsoon rains have already left 33 million people, one in seven, affected, and a third of the country under water.
At least 1,191 people have been killed by the floods, including 399 children, while 3,641 people have been injured according to the latest data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). According to Jennifer Ankrom-Khan, director of Action Against Hunger in Pakistan, “the devastating effects of this year’s monsoon are far from over and many areas remain inaccessible, raising fears that the number of deaths will be much higher in the coming days“.
Almost 750,000 people do not have access to safe housing as a result of the torrential rains, according to reports from the Government of Islamabad, and it has calculated economic losses of at least 10,000 million dollars (about 10,064 million euros). Furthermore, the situation threatens a food supply crisisas more than 719,000 head of cattle have died and more than two million hectares of crops and orchards have been devastated by the floods.
NGOs and the UN demand international help
International Amnesty (AI) has demanded this Wednesday that the richest countries assume their responsibility for the climate crisis and financially compensate those that pollute the least, such as the Asian country. Pakistan has contributed 0.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions since 1959, and yet It is the eighth most vulnerable country in the world to the climate crisis.according to the Germanwatch Risk Index 2021.
The US announced on Tuesday the delivery of 30 million (29.9 million euros) of dollars for the country and the British Government announced this Thursday a humanitarian aid of 15 million pounds (17.5 million euros) for Pakistan aimed at provide shelter and essential supplies. The UN has requested in conjunction with the Government of the country an emergency aid of 160 million dollars (159.6 million euros) to help the victims.
Pakistan, a country of climatic catastrophes
The country is now going through one of its worst floods in recent years, although since its independence from the British Empire in 1947 it has lived under the yoke of meteorological catastrophes that have caused tens of thousands of deaths and immeasurable economic losses. In 1950, 2,190 people died in floods in Pakistan, a figure never surpassed to date, according to data from the Federal Flood Commission.
The Pakistani academy Misbah Manzoor found in a 2011 analysis that “floods have increased steadily from the 1970s to the present, leaving severe and long-lasting effects on living things and infrastructure.” Action Against Hunger indicates that, according to the latest data, this year’s monsoon rains are almost three times more frequent than normal and more than five times in the provinces of Baluchistan and Sindh, which are the most affected.
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