Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan this summer caused at least $40 billion in damages—roughly $10 billion higher than previous estimates—according to World Bank data released Wednesday, officials said, as the South Asian country, along with several others, recoup from the aftermath of devastating floods believed to be fueled by climate change.
Pakistani officials said Wednesday the flooding from historic monsoon rains, which killed nearly 1,500 people and affected 33 million people, was made worse by a lack of “financial and technical resources” for flood response.
Earlier this week, Sharif announced he plans to ask international lenders for billions of dollars in loans for recovery efforts and to rebuild devastated areas, telling the Financial Times the country needs “huge sums of money,” while Pakistani Senator Sherry Rehman said the country has already “repurposed all its existing budgetary envelopes” toward flood relief.
The deadly flooding in Pakistan is one of a handful of catastrophic flood events this year, including ongoing flooding in Nigeria from heavy rain and the release of a dam in neighboring Cameroon that left at least 600 people dead and 2,400 injured, with another 1.4 million displaced.
Major flooding this summer in Bangladesh, China and India also killed more than 100 after rainfall in the area hit a 50-year high, while record rainfall inundated parts of western China killing 300 and damaging 9,000 homes, and flooding in northern China killed 28, destroying nearly 20,000 houses and forcing 120,000 people to evacuate.
The United Nations is asking for $816 million in humanitarian aid for Pakistan, up from a previous request of $160 million, as secondary effects of flooding emerge, including water-borne diseases and hunger—Reuters reported earlier this month the U.N. has so far received $90 million in aid for the country.
Record-breaking rainfall from heavy monsoons across Pakistan left an area the size of Wyoming underwater in August, sweeping away homes and destroying cropland. The flood is believed to be the worst in the country’s 75-year history.
Scientists warn climate change is a primary factor behind intense flooding in recent years, arguing warmer weather and stronger storms have accelerated flooding and sea-level rise, while longer and more intense droughts have helped fuel increasingly large wildfires. Sharif said the effects of climate change have hit Pakistan particularly hard.
In a statement on Wednesday, he said the country of 220 million people contributes less than 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions, but is one of 10 countries hit hardest by the effects of climate change.
Meanwhile, a 2021 report from the nonprofit Africa Together and Washington-based Energy for Growth Hub, claims cash-strapped countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which have been ravaged by recent droughts in countries like Somalia and flooding in Nigeria, have contributed “essentially nothing” to climate change, although they’re feeling its effects first-hand.
1.81 billion. That’s how many people live in areas at risk of flooding from a 100-year flood—roughly one quarter of the world’s population—according to a study published in Nature Communications in June. That includes 1.24 billion people in South and East Asia, the study found, with nine out of 10 of those people living in low- and middle-income countries.
