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pakistan floods
As the Climate Heats Up, Disaster Relief Faces a Sweltering Demand
With climate change exacerbating the destructive impacts of extreme weather, it's marginalized and low-income communities that bear the brunt of the consequences.
Apr 22, 2024
This Earth Day is like no other—our planet reached its highest recorded temperature in 2023, and the climate crisis is rapidly reaching the point of no return. A growing number of climate-related disasters, including floods, wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and the like, will continue to wreak havoc and devastate communities across the globe. Climate preparedness and resiliency programs, such as early warning systems, community-based disaster risk reduction, and climate-smart agriculture, are increasingly necessary to prevent damage and keep humanity safe.
Emergency response organizations like CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) are at the forefront of addressing climate catastrophes, providing immediate relief to help rebuild communities, and implementing long-term solutions to mitigate future risks. The devastating impact of these disasters, exacerbated by the climate crisis, is felt most deeply in developing and low-income countries like Haiti and Pakistan.
Exacerbated by the increasingly volatile security situation facing the country where CORE (formerly J/P HRO) began, Haiti is currently ranked in the top 10 of the Climate Risk Index, which combines exposure to extreme weather events and societal vulnerabilities. This ranking indicates its significant susceptibility to the escalating impacts of climate change, affecting the well-being and livelihoods of over 11 million people. Additionally, recent storms have led to an estimated $61 million loss in agricultural production. With the looming threat of intensified environmental disasters like hurricanes and floods, Haiti faces deepening economic repercussions unless proactive measures are implemented.
With climate change intensifying these challenges, the need for urgent actions is clear.
As temperatures rise across South Asia, the volume of meltwater from the Himalayas has notably surged. Scientists further observe that climate change has led to a heightened unpredictability in monsoon rains. Pakistan experienced unprecedented devastation from monsoon rains that began in 2022.
Approximately one-third of the country was submerged, affecting around 33 million people, equivalent to roughly 14% of Pakistan's population. According to Pakistan's Natural Disaster Management Authority, the floods claimed the lives of over 1,700 individuals, with countless others forced to flee their homes. Flooding remains a significant issue for communities to this day. Beyond the extensive property damage, Pakistan's crucial agriculture sector, which serves as a cornerstone of its economy, bore severe repercussions, with many fields left underwater. Authorities in Pakistan estimate that the floods caused approximately $30 billion in combined damages and economic losses.
European Union data show that Pakistan contributes less than 1% to global planet-warming emissions. Despite this relatively low number, Pakistan is ranked as the eighth most vulnerable nation to the effects of climate change, as per the Global Climate Risk Index.
CORE has been at the forefront of the climate crisis in these two countries. After the devastating Pakistan floods in 2022, CORE responded to the initial disaster, ensuring the pressing needs of 80,000 villagers in the south were met through the distribution of food, hygiene, and medical support and the provision of temporary shelter solutions. In the years after that initial response, CORE collaborated with local leaders to help safeguard communities from similar destruction in the future through innovative mitigation works. CORE raised plots of land in entire villages, built sustainable flood walls, and installed water pumps to keep community members safe and give them peace of mind.
In Haiti, where we have deep community roots tracing back to the 2010 earthquake, we've worked with local fishers and farmers in the south to assist them as they face this "new normal." CORE's goal is to help promote sustainable, nature-based solutions to the impact of climate change that will increase the health and longevity of local ecosystems. Through a ridge-to-reef approach, CORE is assisting farmers in planting sustainable crops that will reduce erosion, which will help strengthen the health of nearby reefs that are the cornerstone of the local fish population and a critical source of income and food for these communities. As part of coastal preservation under the ongoing program with the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, CORE is working with local enterprises to plant new mangroves to restore areas damaged by human activity and improve sanitation as current practices pollute sensitive estuaries.
Domestically, places like California and New Orleans have seen an influx of extreme weather, including wildfires, excessive rainfall, and severe flooding. With climate change intensifying these challenges, the need for urgent actions is clear. The importance of proactive measures such as preparedness initiatives and other adaptation strategies cannot be overstated. These measures are crucial to bolster community resilience and mitigate the potentially catastrophic consequences for at-risk populations.
Over the last decade, CORE, alongside local partners and committed staff, has witnessed the remarkable resilience of vulnerable communities despite facing the worst climate-related disasters. Take our partners, Riverside Development Organisation in Pakistan and Haitian-led Acceso, for instance, who have shown incredible strength and adaptability in meeting immediate and long-term needs. CORE's environmental resilience initiatives have been crucial in equipping local partners and staff with resources and knowledge to confront and mitigate climate challenges, focusing on the hardest-hit populations in affected areas.
The urgency to protect our planet has never been more evident. With climate change exacerbating the destructive impacts of extreme weather, it's marginalized and low-income communities that bear the brunt of the consequences. This underscores the critical need for collective action to support these communities with dedicated action to tackle environmental and social issues head-on. We must all play a part in forging a pathway of climate resiliency and sustainability to ensure the planet and those of us who inhabit it thrive.
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Bombings Kill Dozens in Pakistan on Eve of Contentious Elections
As Pakistanis prepare to head to the polls with the country's most popular politician behind bars on dubious charges, human rights groups sounded the alarm on a wide range of election-related repression.
Feb 07, 2024
Dozens of Pakistanis were killed Wednesday in two bombings targeting political offices on the eve of highly contentious parliamentary elections from which the country's most popular leader—who is jailed on what critics say are politically motivated charges—is banned.
The blasts both occurred in the southwestern province of Balochistan, homeland of the nomadic Baloch people, who also inhabit a large swath of southeastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. Government officials said the first bombing, which targeted independent candidate Asfandyar Khan's office in the Pashin district, killed 18 people. A second blast approximately 80 miles away then killed at least 12 people at the Qilla Saifullah office of the Sunni fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema Islam party, which has close ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Amnesty International said Wednesday that it is "deeply alarmed by the lethal and targeted violence on offices, residences, and election convoys of election candidates and political parties" in Pakistan.
As The Associated Pressreported:
Balochistan, a gas-rich province on the border with Afghanistan and Iran, has been the scene of an insurgency for more than two decades by Baloch nationalists who are seeking independence.
The nationalists typically attack security forces—not civilian or political targets in the province. The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army has been behind multiple attacks on security forces, including one on January 30 that killed six people.
The Pakistani Taliban, along with other militant groups, also have a strong presence in Balochistan and have targeted civilians in recent years, though the Pakistani Taliban pledged not to attack election rallies ahead of the vote.
Candidates representing 44 political parties are competing for 266 contested seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. Following elections, lawmakers elect the country's next prime minister. In the event that no party secures an outright majority, the one with the most assembly seats is tasked with forming a governing coalition.
Three main parties dominate Pakistani politics: the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the center-left Pakistan People's Party, and the populist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Khan, the country's most popular politician, is conspicuously absent from the elections. That's because he's languishing behind bars after being sentenced last month to 10 years imprisonment for leaking state secrets.
After being ousted last year in a parliamentary no-confidence vote, the Pakistani caretaker government dubiously charged Khan with corruption. Khan was charged with leaking state secrets after he
exposed a diplomatic cable showing that the Biden administration encouraged the Pakistani government to remove Khan over his neutral stance regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In an opinion piece published last week by Common Dreams, U.S. economist Jeffrey D. Sachs asserted:
Evidence points strongly to U.S.-led regime change. The U.S. desired to bring down the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the charismatic, talented, and hugely popular leader in Pakistan, renowned both for his world-leading cricket mastery and for his common touch with the people. His popularity, independence, and enormous talents make him a prime target of the U.S., which frets about popular leaders who don't fall into line with U.S. policy.
Sachs argued that Khan's fatal "sin" was seeking friendship and cooperation with not only the United States but also its adversaries in Moscow and Beijing.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were also sentenced to seven years in prison this month after a district court ruled their 2018 marriage was "un-Islamic."
Meanwhile, PTI candidates report widespread government repression.
"We have been harassed constantly by police, many of my workers arrested for trying to campaign, and I can't even go into my constituency," PTI candidate Arsalan Hafeez toldThe Guardian. "They have also registered many false cases against me. They are going after me like a criminal when all I am trying to do is freely fight an election."
Exacerbating matters, Pakistan is also suffering one of the worst economic crises in its history. Inflation remains at near-record levels. Food and fuel prices have soared, exacerbated by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Nearly 40% of the population lives in poverty. Large swaths of the country have yet to recover from devastating climate-driven flooding in 2022 that displaced millions of people and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage.
Owing to these and other woes—including the Covid-19 pandemic, high commodity prices, and depleted foreign exchange reserves—Pakistan nearly defaulted on a $3 billion loan it secured last year from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Critics have decried the conditions of the bailout, arguing they will harm poor people the most.
"I can either get medicine for my diabetes or pay for my daughter to go to school or keep the lights on at my house," one 47-year-old rickshaw driver in Lahore recently told Human Rights Watch. "I can do only one of the three. The IMF should come and see how I am managing my life."
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