MIDDLE SCHOOL CONTRIBUTION: Pakistan Suffers Disastrous Floods, Humanitarian Disaster

By Noah Cytrynbaum ‘28
Enormous floods hit Pakistan this summer, made especially severe due to the impacts of climate change in the region, resulting in an ongoing humanitarian crisis. At the peak of the flooding, one third of Pakistan was underwater, leaving more than 1,300 dead and 100,000 displaced.

Caused by large amounts of rainfall from the summer monsoons, as well as the melting of Pakistan’s mountain glaciers, these floods are the worst climate-related natural disaster to hit the nation in years.
    The floods have affected 33 million throughout Pakistan and only around 250,000 of those have been able to reach shelters, with humanitarian aid efforts being delayed due to collapsing or flooded roads. Officials add that many children could die from diseases, such as cholera, due to lack of clean water.     
Pakistan's climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, stated that first-world countries need to help developing countries who have been impacted by climate change related desolation. 
"Richer countries have got rich on the back of fossil fuels,” Rehman said, “and have been burning their way to kingdom come.”
This calamity has exhibited the stark contrast between countries that create greenhouse gases and those who are affected by them. Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but due to its geographical location and lack of funding for damage mitigation strategies, it is dangerously prone to natural disasters. 
“It is very sad. It shows how [unprecedented] climate change is,” said junior Rex Borgenicht. “I knew there were floods in the US from rising sea levels but I did not know it was happening in Pakistan.”
In the arid Sindh province, up to 130,000 homes have been damaged since Pakistan's largest freshwater source, Lake Manchar, was frighteningly close to completely flooding the surrounding villages. 
There have been multiple attempts to lower the water level, and while one finally succeeded, a nearby town was still fully engulfed by water. The villagers there have attempted to construct a dike to slow down the water, but it is still unclear if this will work.
Pakistan’s flooding joins a long list of natural disasters caused by climate change this summer and fall. A massive drought in Western Europe caused many lakes and rivers to dry up, along with sparking dozens of wildfires across the Mediterranean. 
In addition, a massive drought in the Western United States uncovered human remains in Nevada’s Lake Mead, while Kentucky and Mississppi each suffered monumental flooding. 
Catastrophic floods also hit Nigeria, killing at least 603 people and displacing over 1.3 million people. All of these natural disasters have been caused by the climate crisis and global warming.
Senior Daniel Shapiro agrees with the Pakistani climate minister’s call for climate reparations saying, “these floods are indicative of our worldwide inability to address the climate crisis, and I hope that these are a sign for wealthier countries to step up and finally deal with the mess they have made.”
Pakistan is expected to see only more dire climate disasters in the coming decades, which will certainly pose major problems for the still-developing country of over 240 million people, amplifying the country’s call for help from developed nations.​