Recent monsoon rains have brought devastation across South Asia, with about 600 rain-related deaths recorded across the region, including at least 178 in Pakistan where over 300 people have also been seriously injured, and thousands have been forced to live in relief camps. There has also been little let-up in the rainy season, which has been running for about six weeks now, and a new monsoon pattern is expected to make landfall near Karachi over the weekend.
We cannot ignore the outsized impact that climate change has on Pakistan. Despite contributing less than one per cent to global greenhouse gases, Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. However, while some of the damage can be attributed to climate change – several cities and regions have seen record rainfall – the high death toll also reflects the failure of governments across the region to deliver basic infrastructure, such as reliable drainage and securely installed utilities. Whatever infrastructure does exist is often shoddy, as we have seen with dams and flood walls collapsing. Poverty is also a massive factor. Many of the victims lived in substandard housing or other makeshift shelters. At least 92 of the victims in Pakistan were children, many of whom died in roof and building collapses.
It appears few lessons were learned in the devastating floods of the past decade. Despite long-running warnings from environmentalists, the mountain villages in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are ill-prepared for the impending risk of glacial lake flooding. Last-minute actions will be costly and may end up as a race against time. Meanwhile, a lot still needs to be done to fully utilise rainwater, especially given Pakistan’s status as a water-stressed country. Better rainwater harvesting techniques could help improve water availability for agriculture, commercial and residential use, while the same infrastructure would also help in mitigating the impact of short spells of higher-than-normal rainfall.
