Drowning districts

The recent floods in Pakistan have caused extensive damage and displacement in several districts, particularly in Sindh's Khairpur and Sukkur districts and Balochistan. A report by the UN and three international relief agencies highlighted that the floods have already displaced thousands of people and destroyed critical infrastructure, schools and crops. In Khairpur district alone, four union councils have suffered significant damage, with over two dozen schools and a police station underwater, and at least 33,000 people displaced.

The situation is equally alarming in Balochistan, where nine districts have been declared disaster-hit areas. Hundreds of houses have been destroyed or damaged, social infrastructure has been significantly impacted, and livestock losses have had a severe effect on farmers' livelihoods. The impact on refugee villages in Balochistan is particularly concerning, with damages to water supply infrastructure limiting access to clean water and increasing the risk of waterborne diseases among refugee households, who already live in difficult conditions. And while relief efforts are under way, even if they are slower than required, at present, it looks like the damage can largely be addressed.

However, the scariest thing in the report is the warning about an increased likelihood of glacial lake outburst flooding (Glof) events in K-P and other mountainous areas. Glof events are potential megafloods that occur when the natural dam created by glaciers fail, causing the associated lakes to overflow. While Glof events have been partly to blame for some of the megafloods in recent years, they have been nothing compared to one in 1929, when a Glof event in the Karakoram region caused the water level to rise by eight metres at Attock, over 1,000 kilometres away. A similar catastrophic Glof event could dwarf the floods of the past decade. This is why the government and international partners need to take preemptive measures to ensure that the Glof risk - which has increased significantly due to glacial melt caused by climate change - does not come to pass.