Dr. Muhammad Ikram Zaheer
Summer flood killed more than 1,500 people in Pakistan. Since June rain swept away buildings, flooded homes and destroyed roads. One third of the country was under water. Scientists still can’t say exactly how climate change contributed to the disaster, but they do know that global warming is dramatically increasing the likelihood of extreme rains in South Asia, a quarter of humanity’s area. This global warming has made the monsoon season worse this year for the region particularly Pakistan.
Pakistan is a country that has done little to combat global warming and now it is being worsen much due to Global Warming and the Monsoon. The South Asian summer monsoon is part of the regional climate pattern. Mainly from June to September, winds blow from the south-west. This terrestrial wind brings the rainy season. In general, this is usually a good thing for the agricultural activities. Farmers across the region depend on monsoon rains for their crops. But this is not a normal time anymore. Due to global warming, the water in the oceans is evaporating very fast. And warmer environments can hold more moisture. Hence, heavy rains can occur during monsoon. It will take time for researchers to examine the attribution to determine what happened this summer, but Steven Clemens, professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, said Pakistan’s plains have caused significant flooding. . The country’s disaster management agency says that rains have been three times higher this monsoon season in Pakistan. Sindh province, which borders the Arabian Sea to the south, receives five times the average rainfall. The ongoing political instability in Pakistan complicates the task of preparing for heavy rains. In Pakistan, no prime minister has completed his term. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was also forced to resign in April. He was indicted this month under anti-terrorism laws amid a power struggle with incumbent leaders. The country’s difficult economic situation also means that there are not enough resources for adaptation projects. At one point this month, the annual inflation rate was 42.3 percent. Madiha Afzal, an analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, says the heavy rains damaged much due to late response by the government that was already facing economic and political crisis in the country. He further said that the government did not pay attention and not took it serious. “So things that should happen in a disaster, like the message to evacuate people from flood areas, didn’t happen.” Economic difficulties are also affecting the government’s ability to help the house displaced people and rebuild damaged properties, he added. There is a risk of damage to agriculture as well. According to the World Bank, more than 40 percent of Pakistanis are employed in agricultural sector. The United States this month announced almost 1 million dollars for Pakistan to deal with natural disasters. And in September, the country has secured a $1.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to avoid default. But government officials in Pakistan believe that the damage was caused by a natural disaster that is the result of public sins.
