PAKISTAN faced a terrible disaster when non-stop monsoon rains caused massive floods, leaving a lasting impact on the country. Over 33 million people were affected, which is almost as many as the entire population of Canada. The destruction was immense and quick and thorough help was needed. Our teams acted fast, providing urgent assistance like food, water, shelter and important support to almost one million affected people in Pakistan.
People shared stories about the huge damage caused by the floods. Someone from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said, “I’ve seen floods before, but this one was worse. The water stayed for a very long time, and it was as tall as a building – 8 to 15 feet. Many neighbourhoods were underwater.” But these floods weren’t just because of the heavy rains. They were connected to a bigger problem: climate change which made things even worse. There’s a strong link between the big floods in 2022 and the changes in the climate caused by people.
Before the floods, researchers found that the area was already facing problems because of climate change. Even though Pakistan is not responsible for much of the pollution causing climate change, it’s suffering a lot from its effects. A list called the Global Climate Risk Index says Pakistan is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change. Between 1999 and 2018, many people lost their lives and the country lost a huge amount of money – about $3.8 billion – because of climate change.
Climate change has caused many bad things in Pakistan. The weather is changing in strange ways, it’s getting hotter and the rains are not coming when they should. Big pieces of ice in the northern parts are melting which is making things even harder. Also, there are more big storms and bad natural events happening often. Another place called Azad Jammu & Kashmir is also having similar problems. They’re facing different seasons, big landslides, floods and not having enough water.
A group called Islamic Relief has been helping people in Pakistan for a very long time – more than 30 years. They have made life better for many people. Islamic Relief Pakistan is working hard to deal with the problems caused by climate change. They are trying to help people adapt to these changes. They think women are very important in fighting against climate change. Women can make a big difference in their communities.
Researchers from Islamic Relief globally and Pakistan worked together to understand how climate change affects people’s lives. They listened to women’s stories and learned how hard life has become because of climate change. They wrote a report to tell everyone about the many ways climate change is affecting people in Pakistan.
There is a dire need to do a lot of things to deal with climate change. We should help the people who are most affected. We should also create jobs that help protect against climate problems. Climate change is a big problem that we need to solve. Governments need to act quickly to stop bad things from happening. Everyone around the world needs to work together and help places that are already having trouble because of climate change. The story of Pakistan shows how important it is to fix climate change. We need to help communities that are facing these problems now so that things can get better for the future.
—The writer is a social political analyst, based in Islamabad.
