A Fragile Pakistan; Floods Devastations and The Way Ahead

The year 2022 has proved catastrophic for Pakistan. This monsoon season was disastrous as country experienced more than normal rainfall and an extended wet season. The harrowing scenes by devastations of this flood has left everyone stunned.

Till now, more than 1100 people have been killed and 33 million are affected. One third part of the country is under water now, as this time there was 180 percent more rain than usual. According to a government minister, there is 10 billion dollars property damage estimated.

This calamity is far worse than the one people experienced in 2010 floods as there is huge infrastructure and crops damage countrywide. The cattle and livestock has been ravaged by these torrential rains. Furthermore, there is a risk of spreading waterborne diseases across whole country.

These floods hit the country at the time when it was already suffering a crucial economic stage and this can be a huge blow to Pakistan’s GDP. Further icing on the cake was the political turmoil in the country. It was on the verge of bankruptcy but the recent IMF deal and the cash injection of 1.2 billion dollars has restored the atmosphere of trust in the market again.

In such a terrific situation which the floods in the country has created, it was expected that all political activities would be put aside to cope up with situation and politics would take a back seat. But the delayed relief operation further added into the vulnerability of the victims. The miseries of affectees are such that past pain of 2010 floods gets pale in comparison.

Climate change is the key factor behind this destruction as Pakistan is on the list of top 10 countries that are most vulnerable to climate change impact. There is risk that Pakistan will further jump up in the list of these countries if world will continue not responding to the climate change and not recognize the immediate measures that should be taken on this subject.

As Pakistan is among those countries which is not adding that much pollutants like many big industrial countries, still it’s suffering more. Climate change is a larger global agenda and should be discussed at global forums.

There are some measure that should be taken immediately at district level. Mapping space is one of them. In the areas that are more vulnerable to flooding disaster, local government should provide alternate places to move which will be much better than providing flood relief.

Pakistan has not even scratched the surface in this regard. The disaster management should immediately sensitize communities to move towards safe haven in such situations. Luckily, the areas of Gilgit Baltistan didn’t suffer loss like other country parts as they already sensitized their communities to move towards safe places.

Local NGOs are working and the process of fund relief is going on but this process has proved to be very sluggish as compared to that in 2010 and the reason behind this is that the link of NGOs and donor has become very weak. These organizations don’t have enough resources now. The government of Pakistan has appealed to other countries for relief funds in this respect but this is not the very solution of this problem.

The dams already present in Pakistan are not enough and are not made to control any kind of flood despite they have proved to be more dangerous in flooding situations. There is a need to construct dams on new model that can not only prevent country from such harms but also prove beneficial in many aspects.

Expectedly, rehabilitation state will come much later than that in 2010. One can only expect that life will get back to normal as soon as possible but the core question is; Will we ever learn by our mistakes or our people will continue suffering?