If you search up Nepal on the map, you will see red alert circles across the eastern and central parts. 3,000 people have gone missing since floods hit the country four days ago, with thousands of army personnel deployed while the number confirmed dead goes up by the hour. Towns, roads and bridges swallowed; readers online call the incident ‘exceptional’, which it must be, considering the cause of the floods was a massive 2000-feet wide glacier.
However, the occurrence of such an enormous chunk of ice shearing off from a mountain, and many more devastations in South Asia, begs the question – is this something that can now be expected in areas like Nepal that are hot spots for climate disasters?
In late 2025, Sri Lanka was trapped in a cycle of overlapping tropical cyclones that brought record-shattering rainfall and severe displacement. According to studies by Earth.org, climate change ‘supercharged’ these deadly storms that killed more than 1,800 people. Similarly, mega-cyclones that struck the Bay of Bengal coastline in India & Bangladesh displaced millions and caused billions in cumulative damage to coastal fisheries, homes, and infrastructure.
In Pakistan however, one more event is expected alongside Eid & Ramadan, our annual floods. Routine catastrophic cycles of flash floods, riverine overflows, and urban inundation have led to agricultural collapse – an industry that makes about 24% of Pakistan’s GDP – and a burst of health crises as stagnant floodwaters generate breeding grounds for lethal waterborne diseases.
In 2026, the nationwide death toll reported by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was 175. In 2025, Punjab saw its worst flooding in four decades, with major rivers including Indus & Chenab overflowing and affecting 6.9 million people across the country. In 2022, Pakistan faced what is now called its “historic climate catastrophe.” Floods submerged one-third of the country, affected over 33 million people, displaced 8 million, and caused $40 billion in damages.
This year, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority issued active alerts for severe urban flooding risk and landslides in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But this region’s infrastructure is decades behind what’s needed to handle severe flash floods and glacial outbursts. Money alone won’t fix that.
Our country needs to foremost implement renewable energy. Coal mining in Balochistan has caused tragedies that could have been avoided. If the state had invested in solar, wind, and hydropower instead, this suffering wasn’t necessary. Furthermore, encouraging safe public transport networks and expanding green mass-transit systems in major urban centers will mitigate the effect of vehicular emissions. More solutions are stopping open-air waste burning and implementing urban green infrastructure to cool down cities and absorb carbon emissions.
However, decade’s worth of damage won’t disappear with electric vehicles or planting trees. We need to instill in the hearts of our people love for the Earth and the ground we walk on. Until every person plays their part in ensuring that a habitable home exists for the coming generations; glaciers will fall, homes will be destroyed and children will be destroyed by the very environment fighting to keep them healthy.
