Pakistan increasingly in the eye of the storm

As Pakistan remains in the grip of a rapidly escalating fallout from climate change, images of widespread damage across the country have brought home some very graphic images of the tragedy.

For several days, the unfolding disaster has taken lives while damaging houses, businesses and other properties across Pakistan. The latest spell of rain has paralysed Karachi, Pakistan’s critical southern port city and home to roughly ten per cent of the national population.

Plagued by decades of neglect over ethnic and political divisions, the latest rain related disaster has exposed Karachi’s underlying weaknesses. However, a coastal city, excessive rainfall in Karachi has brought notable services such as its water supply and the sewerage system to a grinding halt. Initial assessments by government officials and social workers suggest that it might take several days for some of these services to begin returning to normal.

Reports from Karachi suggest widespread damage to urban infrastructure beyond properties, including electrical wiring systems and pipelines installed for gas and water supplies. Additionally, scores of vehicles ranging from cars to buses, rickshaws and motorcycles were badly damaged as rainwater heavily inundated streets and side lanes.

Meanwhile in northern Pakistan, excessive rainfall has caused widespread damage to homes, shops and commercial properties. Government officials speaking from Peshawar, capital of the northern Khyber Pakhtun Khwa province (KPK) said, health facilities and schools in remote parts of the province were also damaged. For students who are due to return to schools this month soon after their summer vacations, the rain related disasters have raised the possibility of a delayed resumption of regular classes.

In spite of the scale of the damages reported so far, the final toll in lives lost and material damage may still not produce a conclusive figure. Pakistan’s meteorological officials are still predicting heavy rainfall in the coming days, targeting areas including locations that have remained relatively secure so far.

As the destruction continues in parts of Pakistan, UN officials in Islamabad are closely watching the unfolding disaster across the country. On Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) through their Pakistan office in a statement warned that “many affected communities are located in hard to reach areas, making emergency response efforts even more challenging”.

According to UNOCHA estimates, more than 600 homes have been destroyed and more than one thousand people displaced so far across Pakistan. However, government officials warned that a final estimate at this stage would be far from accurate, as relief workers are struggling notably in northern Pakistan to reach calamity-hit communities in remote areas.