Pakistan has suffered a rare flood in decades: 900 people have been killed, and international assistance has been called for

The Paper's reporter Wang Zhuoyi

On August 24, 2022 local time, in Jafalabad County, Pakistan, a displaced family walked through flooded areas after heavy rains. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said on Wednesday that heavy rains have triggered flash floods that have devastated much of Pakistan since mid-June, killing 903 people and leaving some 50,000 homeless. Visual China figure

On August 24, local time, Pakistan's climate change minister Sherry Rehman said that since June this year, the floods caused by monsoon rains have killed more than 900 people, causing an "epic disaster" in Pakistan, so she called on the international community to help.

According to CCTV News, on August 24, when answering a reporter's question on the flood disaster in Pakistan, the Spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the reserve materials such as 4,000 tents, 50,000 blankets and 50,000 waterproof tents provided by China under the framework of social and people's livelihood cooperation in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor have all been put into the frontline of disaster relief. Taking into account the current disaster situation in Pakistan, the Chinese side decided to provide an additional batch of emergency humanitarian assistance, including 25,000 tents and other urgently needed relief materials, and strive to arrive as quickly as possible. The Red Cross Society of China will also provide US$300,000 (about 2.06 million yuan) of emergency spot assistance to the Pakistan Red Crescent Society.

Monsoon rains, which began in mid-June, are expected to continue this week. Some experts say pakistan's current floods are closely linked to global climate change.

Heavy rain has rarely been seen for decades

According to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper on August 24, Lehman wrote on Twitter that record monsoon rains and the resulting floods since June have killed 903 people, including 326 children and 191 women, and injured 1,293 others. The number of people affected reached 3 million.

According to figures provided by Lehman on Twitter, the deadliest were in Sindh and Balochistan, both of which broke 30-year records.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also described the current disaster in a statement: floods destroyed nearly 125,000 homes and damaged another 288,000; about 700,000 livestock were killed and nearly 2 million acres of farmland were destroyed in Sindh and Balochistan; and nearly 3,000 kilometers of roads were damaged.

Agence France-Presse reported on August 24 that heavy rains continued to invade much of Pakistan on the day, with official reports saying more than a dozen people had died in the past 24 hours, including nine children.

The footage broadcast by the local TV station in Pakistan on the 24th showed that people waded through the waist-length flood, holding children in their hands and carrying daily necessities on their heads.

According to Pakistan's GEO television station, television footage shows the deceased's family transporting the deceased out of the water-soaked house and carrying the coffin across the flooded area to another location for burial. However, the cemetery in the disaster area may also have been submerged by the flood.

"It's been raining for a month and there's nothing left." A woman named Khanzadi in Jaffarabad county, Balochistan province, the hardest hit area, told AFP, "We only have one goat, and it also drowned in the floods... Now we have nothing, we lie on the road, facing hunger. ”

Zaheer Ahmad Babar, Pakistan's senior meteorological official, told AFP that this year's rainfall was the highest since 2010, with Balochistan receiving 430 percent more rain than in normal and Sindh nearly 500 percent more. Another scientist, Shahla Gondal, also said: "We have never seen such an unusually heavy rain in Pakistan in recent decades. ”

The United Nations and Qatar provided assistance

According to Dawn, videos and photos appearing on social media show that while floods have devastated Pakistan's urban and rural areas, the Pakistani Army and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have also rushed to the disaster areas for rescue.

Lehman said the Pakistani government was "using all available resources to help flood victims," but she also said the pakistani government would also appeal to the international community for assistance.

"The provinces, not even Islamabad, cannot cope with this massive climate catastrophe on their own." Lehman told AFP, "Lives are at stake and thousands of people are homeless. It is important for international partners to deploy assistance. ”

In addition to China, other international organizations and countries have also provided support to Pakistan. According to Pakistan's "News" reported on August 25, the United Nations Secretary-General spokesman Dugarik said on the 24th that the United Nations is increasing its assistance to Pakistan, and the United Nations team led by humanitarian coordinator Julien Harnis has raised $7 million to deal with the flood. Dugaric also said the United Nations also provided 1,100 tons of rations, therapeutic feed and nutritional supplements to the affected areas.

On August 24, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabaz Al-Thani, who was on a visit to Qatar, announced after concluding talks with Qatar's emir (head of state) Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that the Qatari Investment Authority was preparing to invest $3 billion in Pakistan, according to the Associated Press. It is reported that the purpose of Sharif's visit is to seek financial assistance, loans and investment for Pakistan, which is experiencing an economic crisis.

On August 24, Pakistan's Minister of Information, Marriyum Aurangzeb, also appealed to Pakistanis at home and abroad to donate to the disaster areas.

From high temperatures to floods

According to Agence France-Presse and Pakistani media, most of Pakistan was hit by heat waves from April to June this year, including sindh and Balochistan provinces, which were the hardest hit by the floods. In Jacobabad, Sindh, for example, the maximum temperature has risen to 51°C, but the city is also currently in the midst of flooding.

According to the News on August 23, pakistan meteorological authority (PMD) officials and local people said that in the late July and first three weeks of August this year, as many as 30 glacial lake burst flooding (GLOF) incidents were reported in Chitral districts in northern Pakistan's gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pashtun province due to "unprecedented hot weather".

The Associated Press quoted experts as saying that climate change has caused Pakistan's weather conditions to become very unstable, with sudden increases in rainfall, melting glaciers, and river surges, and thus more than ever.

According to the Global Climate Risk Index compiled by the environmental NGO Germanwatch, Pakistan ranks eighth among the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather effects caused by climate change. Pakistan's Tribune Express reported on August 25 that due to climate change, Pakistan's precipitation patterns, intensities and frequencies have changed over the past 20 years, and it has suffered 152 extreme weather events. Pakistan is also likely to face extreme water shortages by 2025.

Experts point out that limiting greenhouse gas emissions will help reduce extreme weather events in Pakistan, as well as countries around the world.

Responsible editor: Zhang Wuwei Photo editor: Li Jingyun

Proofreader: Liu Wei