A trail of destruction "unprecedented in the last 30 years." This is the situation in Pakistan, according to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after the passage of monsoon rains, never so prolonged beyond July, and never so intense. Reporting this is Salesian coadjutor Bro. Piero Ramello, active in Lahore, a city spared this time by the avalanche of water. But a third of the country is sinking.
Homes, possessions, livelihoods have been lost for many, sunk as if in an ocean. So far there are reportedly 1,060 victims since the rains began and 33 million people affected. Nearly all of Baluchistan and Sindh, the two hardest hit provinces, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and southern Punjab are facing an unprecedented crisis, for which the government has requested urgent help from the international community. So many families are in need of food, shelter and health care, and then, having lost so many animals and livestock, which are part of daily subsistence, the difficulties are enormous, Br. Ramello explained. The Pope called for the generous solidarity of the international community, the same called for by Prime Minister Sharif.
Meanwhile, the funds allocated by the government seem totally insufficient. "The main problem," the Salesian says, "besides the climatic situation, which with global warming seems to be weighing down Pakistan in particular, is the absence of a waste disposal or collection system, so throughout the country people throw garbage into the rivers. When the water becomes abundant and uncontainable, the garbage creates real barriers, obstructing normal runoff and fueling overflows and flooding of enormous proportions. Poorly conceived urban planning programs have also led to the construction of thousands of buildings in flood-prone areas. On top of that, there is the warming Earth: Pakistani officials blame climate change, saying Pakistan is suffering the consequences of irresponsible environmental practices elsewhere in the world.
Symbolic of the disaster is the Indus River, which flows through the southern province of Sindh, swollen by dozens of rivers and mountain streams that have broken their banks due to record rainfall and melting glaciers. The floodgates have been opened to cope with a flow of more than 600,000 cubic meters per second, said the manager of the main dam that regulates the river's flow near the town of Sukkur in Sindh province, home to about 500,000 people. Authorities have warned that torrents of water are expected to reach Sindh province in the coming days, adding to the hardships of millions of people already affected by the floods.
A disaster therefore of rare magnitude, for which the country is in a state of emergency at an already very difficult time due to an economic collapse and deep political crisis.
