The Floods Devastating Pakistan Are More Than a Natural Disaster

 A decade after the devastating floods that devastated Pakistan in 2010, the country is reeling from an unimaginable scale of disaster. Monsoon rains and melting glaciers displaced at least 35 million people and killed more than a thousand. Pakistan is estimated to have lost at least $10 billion due to the massive destruction caused by the floods. In addition, the widespread destruction of agriculture and livestock raised concerns of severe food shortages in the coming months. The floods, which began in Balochistan province in July, received very little media coverage both at home and abroad. Instead, the public debate was dominated by the power struggle between ousted leader Imran Khan's party and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government, including crucial by-elections in Punjab province. In August, both sides began to file political motivated cases against their enemies. Shahbaz -Kurds, the Pakistani party (PTI), polarized the political point of view in the coming weeks, with more expectations of conflicts in the coming weeks.

Although they reported all the details of political rumors created in the Center for Political Commentators in Islamabad and abroad, social media from social media shouted from the affected people in Pakistan. Floods soon inundated parts of Sindh and southern Punjab. This flood first made news on a Pakistani channel on August 23. At that time, more than twenty million people were affected, making it the worst natural disaster in the country's recent history.

The lagging media response to the climate catastrophe is partly due to the fact that "disaster" narratives do not easily provide clear categories of heroes and villains. This makes them a tragedy capable of evoking universal compassion but unable to generate political competition. However, politics is at the heart of the tragedy happening in Pakistan today. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the criminals who are responsible for the unnecessary suffering of millions of people.

Destruction of politics
The record monsoon rains that caused the floods in Pakistan (following global warming) are the predictable horrors of climate change, a product of the petrified political economy of capitalism. It is well known that colonialism and imperialism have stunted development and allowed poor countries to benefit from the exploitation of the Global North. According to economic historian Utsa Patnaik, the damage done by the British to the Indian economy was only 45 trillion USD, creating islands of prosperity in the metropolises while millions of people in the colonies suffered from poverty, unemployment and hunger. One of the main reasons to eliminate the political roots of the disaster is the time and restoration of the place between the causes and the effects of climate change and liberal disasters, such as humanitarian problems.
This relationship increases as we study how the emissions of greenhouses in the north lead to a decomposition of the weather, which affects not only climate changes, but also the financial ability to create flexible rehabilitation or infrastructure. There is no weather. For example, the global North exceeded its safe share of emissions in 1939, almost eight decades before the current floods.

Pakistan has not used its fair share of safe greenhouse gases (accounting for 0.4 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions since 1959), while the global North has exceeded its quota by 90 percent. We also know that one hundred companies are responsible for 71 percent of greenhouse gases, and that the top twenty polluters are responsible for a third of all greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The ghosts of the past return to haunt those who had no part in their upbringing. The destruction of public discourse, the destruction of pollutants, especially the sufferings of millions and the threat of the planet's disaster, is part of the process of operation of time and restoration of the site between the greenhouse emissions and their deaths. As a result, we are "together" because we threatened the human family. Debt discounter
Pakistan was facing severe economic crisis during the flood. When the PDM ousted Khan's government in April, the foreign debt was estimated at $28 billion, causing a severe cash flow crisis. Although the new government asked for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of the IMF's main demands was the removal of oil subsidies and an increase in electricity tariffs. As the PDM government gave in to these demands, inflation reached 27 percent. While the poor and middle classes have been hit hard, elite privilege, valued at $17.4 billion by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), remains intact. In other words, we witnessed a terrible example of austerity for the poor and socialism for the rich. In early August, the government announced one growth of electric rates, which led to arbitrary demonstrations across the country. The government was forced to change some laws of appearance by the pressure of society, but the general living conditions of bad lives continue to hunt ordinary citizens. About 40 percent of mortality are caused by waterfall diseases, and about 40 percent of children who do not have malnutrition and lose $ 20 million in schools. While the future looks bleak for the people, the International Monetary Fund expects Pakistan to continue to "restructure" its economy in line with market forces.

 

Read more: https://jacobin.com/2022/09/floods-pakistan-natural-disaster-global-south-climate-crisis/