AFTER the displacement of millions of people in Pakistan due to catastrophic flooding, Japan is now also faced with a super typhoon which has so far killed two people and injured ninety others.
Nine million people have also been told to evacuate their homes. Scientists have predicted a very active hurricane season this year, influenced by a natural phenomenon known as La Niña.
Warmer sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean as a result of climate change may also have an impact.
Given the cordiality in their bilateral relationship, the people of Pakistan really feel and share the pain of Japanese people but at the same time are confident that they will be able to better cope with the situation. We stand by Japanese people in this hour of difficulty.
As also tweeted by PM Shehbaz Sharif, Japan typhoon shows climate change does not follow a linear pattern and can bring disaster to any country. At present, Europe is also experiencing an unprecedented drought-like situation.
According to a report released by the Asian Development Bank and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, people in Asia and the Pacific were displaced more than 225 million times due to disasters triggered by natural hazards from 2010 to 2021.
This figure does not include the estimated hundreds of thousands of people displaced in Pakistan to recent flooding.
The report says climate change combined with rapid urbanization of the region and other factors may significantly heighten future displacement risks and related costs.
According to another study, burning the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves would unleash 3.5 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
This whole scenario suggests that the planet earth is standing at a crossroads where it is faced with the threat of its own existence because of the horrors of climate change.
Business as usual will only further aggravate the situation. Developed countries will have to fulfil their responsibility and drastically cut down emissions besides financially assisting countries like Pakistan which are more vulnerable to changing weather patterns to build climate resilient infrastructure.
This is the matter of our survival and the time to act is now or never. The floods in Pakistan and hurricane in Japan should be enough to jolt everybody from deep slumber.
