UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday launched a flash $160 million appeal for flood-ravaged Pakistan, where more than 1,100 people have been killed and 33 million others impacted in one of the worst monsoon seasons in over a decade. The appeal comes as Pakistani officials said the floods had already caused more than $10 billion in damages and urged more international assistance.”The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding,” Guterres said during the appeal’s launch.
“As we continue to see more and more extreme weather events around the world, it is outrageous that climate action is being put on the back burner as global emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising, putting all of us — everywhere — in growing danger,” he said.
“Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change,” he said. “Today, it’s Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.Images of water gushing down streets, swallowing villages and destroying bridges serve as a stark reminder of the inequities of the climate crisis, which impacts the developing world disproportionately. Richer countries also bear a much larger historical responsibility for the crisis in the first place.
Pakistan last year ranked as the eighth most affected nation by climate change from 2000 to 2019, in the Global Climate Risk Index by non-profit group Germanwatch. People living in hotspots like South Asia are 15 times more likely to die from climate crisis impacts.
“This is a climate crisis,” Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF’s representative in Pakistan told CNN. “A climate that has been mostly done by richer countries, contributing to the crisis, and I think it is time that the world responded to support Pakistan in this time of need.”
The deadly floods are threatening to engulf up to a third of the nation by the end of the monsoon season, taking a high toll on lives but also infrastructure, and wreaking havoc on crops across farmland in the middle of a food crisis.Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal revealed the estimated $10 billion cost to the country on Monday, telling CNN: “The world needs to come to Pakistan’s assistance to deal with the effects of climate change.”In a statement Monday, IRC’s Pakistan country director Shabnam Baloch said that Pakistan produced less than 1% of the world’s carbon footprint.A lack of hygiene facilities and clean drinking water has exacerbated the risk of diseases spreading in flooded areas, with nearly 20,000 people in need of critical food supplies and medical support, Baloch added.”Our needs assessment showed that we are already seeing a major increase in cases of diarrhea, skin infections, malaria and other illnesses,” she said. “We are urgently requesting donors to step up their support and help us save lives.”
-CNN