The most heartbreaking aspect of this situation is that while climate change impacts the entire world, Pakistan currently faces a crisis bigger than any other country despite having contributed very little to global carbon emissions.
"We consistently see climate devastation in the forms of floods, monsoons, extensive droughts, extreme heat waves," Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in an interview with CNN Tuesday. "And frankly, the people of Pakistan, the citizens of Pakistan, are paying the price in their lives, their livelihoods for the industrialization of rich countries that has resulted in this climate change."
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of the world's planet-warming gases. Despite this, it is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis due to its significant number of glaciers.
According to The Washington Post, Pakistan is home to over 7,200 glaciers, more than any other country. As a result of rising temperatures due to climate change, these glaciers are likely to melt faster and earlier, as a result adding water to rivers and streams that are already swollen by rainfall.
“We have the largest number of glaciers outside the polar region, and this affects us,” Rehman told the Associated Press. “Instead of keeping their majesty and preserving them for posterity and nature,” she said, “we are seeing them melt.”
In addition to injuries and death, about 1 million homes and about 2,200 miles of roads have been destroyed. As of Tuesday, nearly 500,000 people are in displacement camps, and many others have nowhere to go, The Washington Post reported.
"More than three million children are in need of humanitarian assistance and at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition due to the most severe flooding in Pakistan's recent history," the UN children's agency warned, according to CNN. The World Health Organization said that more than 6.4 million people were in dire need of humanitarian aid.
By Thursday, officials in Pakistan noted an outbreak of waterborne diseases in areas hit by the flooding. According to ABC News, diarrhea, skin diseases, and eye infections are among the diseases spreading at relief camps set up by the government across the country. The outlet noted that over 90,000 diarrhea cases were reported from one of the worst-hit provinces, Sindh, in the past 24 hours, according to a report released by the health officials.
Farah Naureen, the director for Pakistan at the international aid agency Mercy Corps, told the Associated Press that waterborne diseases were increasing at a faster pace among displaced people in flood-hit areas due to a lack of resources. Pregnant women especially are facing the brunt of this crisis in addition to women and girls already being at an increased risk of gender-based violence.
“Around 73,000 will be giving birth within the next month, and they need skilled birth attendants, privacy, and birth facilities, or the survival of the mother and the newborn will be at risk,” Naureen said.
Several nonprofits are working to provide temporary housing, food, and health supplies to victims of the natural disaster.
“Our team has been fielding messages from villages in Interior Sindh. They’ve spent days in the areas to understand what is needed most and who are those that need us most. Many of these communities are home to nomadic tribes who travel between areas often. Vans full of volunteers have dispersed to various villages with food relief bags,” said Uzma Bawany, founder of Thaakat Foundation, a nonprofit with global sites, including one in Pakistan.
“We are so grateful to those supporting our efforts and to all nonprofits and people on the ground giving it everything they’ve got.”
Thaakat gave permission to Daily Kos to use photos from its social media to depict the work volunteers are doing and the condition survivors of the flooding are in.