ISLAMABAD: The monster monsoon rains across Pakistan has taken the lives of over 1,100 people, caused damages worth over $10 billion and left nearly a third of the country under water.
Pakistan it currently facing its deadliest monsoon season in decades which has taken the lives of over 1,100 people, caused damages worth over $10 billion and left nearly a third of the country under water, prompting international aide to come to rescue following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led cash-strapped government’s desperate appeal for aid to deal with the crisis.
Early estimates have put the damage from Pakistan’s deadly floods at more than $10 billion, country’s its planning minister said, adding that the world has an obligation to help the South Asian nation cope with the effects of man-made climate change.
Unprecedented flash floods caused by record-breaking monsoon rains, said Sherry Rehman Minister Climate Change and she called the “monster monsoon of the decade”. She said that the record monsoon have washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing over 1,100 people in recent weeks and affecting more than 33 million, over 15 per cent of the country’s 220 million population.
While heavy rain, even destructive, is not uncommon for Pakistan during its annual monsoon season, the catastrophic damage from this year’s downpours and flooding has not been seen for decades.
Experts are of the view that a cocktail of climate problems driven by global warming — searing temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather getting wilder, melting glaciers — have a key role to plan in the current unprecedented rains Pakistan, a country they say did little to cause the warming, but keeps getting hit.
“This year Pakistan has received the highest rainfall in at least three decades. So far this year the rain is running at more than 780% above average levels”, said an official of Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Read more: Flash Flood: Death toll rises to 1061 as floods sweep country, damage about 1m homes
