The looming threat of Climate Crisis in Pakistan
Sardar Mengal
Climate change is unleashing its worst effects in the form of heavy rainfalls and disastrous floods. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had already waved multiple red flags about dire consequences of climate change in Pakistan. The authorities should have been on their toes in response to the contours of the crisis but we witnessed everything otherwise.
Balochistan Vulnerable to Climate Crisis
It is noteworthy that almost 30 districts of Balochistan have been badly hit by the current climate emergency. People who were already drowning in man made disasters of inflation, poverty, political crisis are currently drowning in a Natural disaster. Nushki, Khuzdar, Lasbela, Bolan and Jhal Magsi received much of the inflictions of flash floods.
Also read: Looming threat of climate change and Balochistan
People were left stranded to flow with the waves as seen in footages, circulating on social media. Unfortunately, disturbing pictures of dead bodies of children covered with mud, families who were sitting helplessly on debris of their houses and sinking valuables of the people couldn’t awaken the government from its stupor. Even more gloomily, the enraging waves of floods-engulfing lives and property, converting everything into dust & debris and wreaking havoc all around- couldn’t merit breaking news on national media.
Prior disregard and later delayed response have multiplied inflictions of the catastrophe. Loss of land communication has further isolated the stricken areas making true estimation of destruction more exhausting.
Timely decision and act can reduce the effect of Climate Change
To stop ballooning problems into crisis; rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations should be carried out on full scale as the current pace is insufficient to meet the requirement. NDMA and PDMA need to reach out to the peripheral areas that are out of the radar.
Also read: Multivariate Aspects of Climate Change in Pakistan
It’s high time for the provincial and federal coalition government to pay special attention to those whose lives are at the stake. Political parties need to rise above the traditional politics and launch concerted efforts to help out the calamity stricken at the earliest. Social welfare organisations should come forward to heal the lesions of suffering humans. On national media, there should be special discourse and discussion on settlement and rehabilitation of the affected people.
In addition to ensuring; re-building of eroded infrastructure, compensation for losses, clean water, adequate supply of food, there should be numerous measures in pipeline to overcome the post-flood outcomes such as increased risk of infectious diseases. The flood-stricken area can become a breeding ground for many health related problems. Supplying preventive medicines and upholding precautionary measures can halt the onslaught of infectious diseases.
The state machinery in its all forms should come into play to navigate a safe passage out of this hurricane of climate emergency enveloping us now.
The author is a final year MBBS student at King Edward Medical University Lahore, Pakistan. He can be reached on twitter via @SardarMengal11.
The Looming threat of Climate Crisis in Pakistan
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