An extreme weather disaster

This is the harshest winter in recent years with calamitous consequences. Snowfall, rains and avalanches continue to play havoc with lives. The death toll rose to 109 on Wednesday as 15 more people, including five army personnel of an Army corps of engineers, lost their lives in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and parts of Balochistan. Many more have been injured. Two badly hurt girls aged six and 12 were pulled out of debris 18 hours after their homes were hit by an avalanche. Hundreds of villages were cut off from the rest of the country; and in Balochistan, around 150 mud houses collapsed and another 341 partially damaged due to snowfall and rain. The worst hit region has been the Neelam Valley where as many as 75 people have been killed. Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in the area on Wednesday to express solidarity with the victims and have a firsthand appraisal of the losses and rescue work. However, some people waiting at the helipad to be flown to their homes so they could bury their dead and take care of the survivors, were reported to be grumbling that the whole day was spent making arrangements for the PM's visit. Important as it was for the PM to be with the people in an hour of crisis, the visit should have been better organised so as not to affect relief operations.

These tragic events are related to climate change and likely to become more frequent in the years to come. Unfortunately, the leader of one of the biggest polluters, US President Donald Trump, calls global warming a 'hoax' and the other major polluters have shown little resolve so far to fulfil their commitments under the Paris Agreement to keep global average temperature 1.5C above the preindustrial levels. As a result, 2019 has turned out to be the second hottest year in recorded history and the hottest of the last decade. Pakistan is among the countries with the lowest contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (less than 1 percent) yet it ranks fifth among nations most vulnerable to effects of global warming. During the recent years, this country has been experiencing extreme weather events that are predicted to get worse thus causing serious disruptions in its agrarian economy and distress to the population. We cannot afford to ignore the reality of climate change. Thankfully, the environment figures prominently in PM Khan's national priorities and is listed in his agenda for development. It was one of the four major issues he highlighted in his UNSC speech. He has also launched "10 billion tree tsunami" campaign.

His government also needs to improve technical capability of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to deal with adverse impacts of climate change. Perhaps some lives could have been saved had the NDMA been better equipped to quickly respond to the natural disaster that struck vast swathes of GB, AJK and Balochistan. No less important is the need for formulating longer-term strategies aimed at adaption to climate change.