Floods: official statistics

Massive flood events in Pakistan have played havoc with infrastructure and lives, raising the overall death toll to 1,290 and leaving 12,588 people injured. Around 80 districts being declared as “calamity hit” by the National Flood Response Coordination Centre and open fields are seen inundated with water that is shoulder high. Relentless rains coupled with flash floods have decimated infrastructure — sweeping away bridges and communities, breaking down dams and barrages, and destroying highways and roads.

Experts claim that majority of crops in Sindh have been wiped out and the province might need to brace for a famine-like situation in the coming months. Prices of food items have also been jacked up due to shortages, further exacerbating inflation. Most significant is perhaps the sheer destruction of transport infrastructure, essential for any country or province to function. In the aftermath of the floods, officials will require significant funds for redevelopment. They must push the international community to pay reparations for climate change consequences that Pakistan has long endured. There have been concerted efforts by volunteers and army officials who have managed to open blocked roads to resume traffic and provide basic essentials to some flood affected regions. But the scale of the damage is too wide-spread for sporadic relief efforts. Reparations should be initiated systematically at a national or provincial level by accumulating resources and strength.

This rebuilding phase is a perfect opportunity for Pakistan to develop climate resilient infrastructure that takes into account all the disastrous events that the country has been reeling with for the past many years. This will help mitigate disaster and make climate change a somewhat manageable affair. Pakistan desperately needs not just a long-term sustainable plan to predict and cope with climate change, but also to push international coverage, advocacy and accountability.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2022.

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