More than 1,000 people have died in Pakistan since June from flooding caused by monsoon rains. From Saturday (27) to Sunday (28), there were 119 deaths, according to the local government.
The worst situation is in the south of the country, where the level of the river that crosses Sindh province continues to rise. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had never seen anything like it: “Some villages have been annihilated and millions of houses destroyed. There is enormous destruction,” he declared after flying over the region.
The Pakistani government attributes the phenomena to climate change and claims that the country is suffering the consequences of irresponsible practices in other regions of the world in relation to the environment. Pakistan is the eighth nation most threatened by extreme weather events, according to the NGO Germanwatch.
Monsoon rains occur every year, between June and September, and are essential for irrigating crops and replenishing the region’s water resources. But this year’s are stronger: on Friday (26), the government declared a state of emergency and mobilized the army to face the “catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude”, in the words of the Minister of Climate Change, Sherry Rehman.
To mitigate the consequences of the floods, the floodgates of a large dam in Sindh were opened to manage the flow of more than 600,000 cubic meters per second. The authorities warn that the torrents of water are expected to hit even more in the coming days, which will worsen the situation in the region.
Across the country, more than 33 million people have been affected by the rains this year – one Pakistani in seven. In addition, one million homes were destroyed or badly damaged, according to the government.
In Sindh, tens of thousands of rural residents sought refuge on elevated roads. In the city of Sukkur, tents were made available to receive the increasingly numerous homeless.
The situation is also worrying in the north of the country, where thousands of people living near rivers were ordered on Saturday to leave their homes. This Sunday, rescue teams evacuated the inhabitants who remained in the region.
“We had to help children and women,” a rescuer told AFP in the Swat Valley, a tourist area known for its mountains. In the region, the water washed away dozens of properties, including a 150-room hotel.
Twelve years ago, Pakistan went through a similar crisis: at that time, floods killed 2,000 people and left 20% of the nation inundated. Now, the floods come against a backdrop of economic and political crisis in the country – in April, Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office by parliament.
This Sunday, the country’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, asked for help from financial institutions to raise emergency funds and said that the damage could total US$ 4 billion (R$ 21.7 billion). “I’ve never seen destruction on this scale. It’s overwhelming,” he told Reuters.
According to him, several crops that would have fed the local population were annihilated, which worsened the economic situation. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) board may release this week a loan of US$ 1.2 billion to the country discussed since 2019.
Bhutto-Zardari said that after the relief efforts, the country will have to consider how to develop infrastructure that is more resistant to floods and droughts and deal with the changes facing the agricultural sector. “[Teremos que fazer isso]although Pakistan contributes negligible amounts to the carbon footprint.”
