Bitter truth about Pak floods

[MilSpec]

Hang on a minute here.

Pakistan has had more than half a century at least to build dams, stop deforestation in catchment areas, control its population and enforce proper planning for levees and building codes. It chose not to do any of that, and thus magnify manifold the effects of the recent flooding.

How is that anybody else's fault?

They were busy with Kashmir.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@Meengla sb

I, like most in the richer countries, consume like there is no tomorrow.

Yes, that's why I think Overseas Pakistanis who can should contribute- rather than throw a fit at Kaptaan sb being overthrown by the Neutrals and Importeds.

@DabbuSardar,

Indian plains have a bigger amount of water flowing down the mountains, and similar monsoon rains.

And we do have huge floods too. Bihar, WB, NE, Eastern UP almost once every 3-4 years. It is just that since India is a very large country, everyone chips in and on a gross basis it is not always felt. And a monster like what has happened in South Pakistan is just a matter of time away for IND/BD.

Regards

 

[Dalit]

Sensible post. There is not much a poor country like Pakistan could have done to tackle the floods like this which are heavily caused by the global climate change. I, like most in the richer countries, consume like there is no tomorrow. I will admit that I don't even mind taking a 20+ miles detour to get to a place just to avoid traffic or taking a scenic route. Now imagine how many people like me consume resources like there is no tomorrow? My car is almost all the time the smallest in parking lots (a Toyota Yaris with 33-35 mpg in city driving!!). There are gas guzzlers all over America!! We in rich countries consume too much. And we are responsible for the climate change crises like the current one in Pakistan.

You are responsible for a whole host of things. One of them is also regime change. Climate change is least worries of your worries if I may add.

@Meengla sb

I, like most in the richer countries, consume like there is no tomorrow.

Yes, that's why I think Overseas Pakistanis who can should contribute- rather than throw a fit at Kaptaan sb being overthrown by the Neutrals and Importeds.

@DabbuSardar,

Indian plains have a bigger amount of water flowing down the mountains, and similar monsoon rains.

And we do have huge floods too. Bihar, WB, NE, Eastern UP almost once every 3-4 years. It is just that since India is a very large country, everyone chips in and on a gross basis it is not always felt. And a monster like what has happened in South Pakistan is just a matter of time away for IND/BD.

Regards

The overseas Pakistanis aren't going to contibute a single cent to Bajwa's Pakistan. Let Bajwa's sponsors America/Europe come forward and provide billions. No one can force overseas Pakistanis to provide support to corrupt PDM.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@Dalit bhai,

No one can force overseas Pakistanis to provide support to corrupt PDM.

Of course no one can.

The overseas Pakistanis aren't going to contribute a single cent to Bajwa's Pakistan

Pakistan is much bigger than the Kaptaan sb, Mir Bawla, the Sharifs or the Bhutto-Zardaris. It belongs to every Pakistani.

Regards

 

[Dalit]

@Dalit bhai,

No one can force overseas Pakistanis to provide support to corrupt PDM.

Of course no one can.

The overseas Pakistanis aren't going to contribute a single cent to Bajwa's Pakistan

Pakistan is much bigger than the Kaptaan sb, Mir Bawla, the Sharifs or the Bhutto-Zardaris. It belongs to every Pakistani.

Regards

Too late for preaching now. You reap what you sow.

LOL You are pleading for help from overseas Pakistanis. PDM isn't even getting help from its American/European allies. The corrupt PM begs at the UN stage for aid. Yet there is no one there to help him out. The Americans and European help speaks for itself.

 

[VCheng]

They were busy with Kashmir.

Please allow me to rephrase that: they were busy creating a situation over Kashmir that was and is used to create a security state where the military rules over all. Mission accomplished.

Painful and bitter, because true.

Aren't I the hated Captain Blunt here: truth hurts.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@Signalian

will Govt give them reimbursements in cash ?

That seems to be the only option. Presumably most families have a bank account where money can be directly transferred?

First, step has to pump in the cash to the affected families, followed by ensuring civil supplies are at full throttle. Then comes the rebuilding of the destroyed infra you mentioned.

Regards

 

[mangochutney]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1572954718598733826

as poster truly said “ A cursed place “

 

[DabbuSardar]

Pakistan has a fairly complex irrigation system for Indus and its tributaries. What can the dams and canals do if, say, 3 times normal rain comes down at once. Once the dams are full, it is as good as there are no dams. Also, some of the older and weaker dams may burst causing larger catastrophes. The only solution is not to build in flood plains. But in a crowded country, people will hesitate to leave empty space for flood plain and encroach it with tragic consequences. For example, in a few years, all the flood plains will be teeming with construction as though nothing happened.

I have a hard time understanding this, all of this is straight excuses...

Dams are built to handle floods and if over limit they use spillways. Thats how it works in indian punjab and rajasthan, Rajasthan desert was turned fertile using canals 50+ years ago, nothing like your statement happened...
If you want to make excuses please keep going, but examples against it are right here...

 

[Signalian]

@Signalian

will Govt give them reimbursements in cash ?

That seems to be the only option. Presumably most families have a bank account where money can be directly transferred?

First, step has to pump in the cash to the affected families, followed by ensuring civil supplies are at full throttle. Then comes the rebuilding of the destroyed infra you mentioned.

Regards

Even if they give cash reimbursements, the inflation level is too high. These people need jobs and re-settlement as first priority along with medical and health checkups.

This tragedy could have been avoided or curtailed to a big extent had the Govts taken interest in building required infrastructure against floods. The devastation may have been contained if not fully avoided.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@Signalian

Even if they give cash reimbursements, the inflation level is too high.

True, that is why they will have to ensure that supplies are adequate as it will only create a further price spiral.

This tragedy could have been avoided or curtailed to a big extent had the Govts taken interest in building required infrastructure against floods.

That goes without saying. Unfortunately that is all in the past.

Regards

 

[epebble]

I have a hard time understanding this, all of this is straight excuses...

Dams are built to handle floods and if over limit they use spillways. Thats how it works in indian punjab and rajasthan, Rajasthan desert was turned fertile using canals 50+ years ago, nothing like your statement happened...
If you want to make excuses please keep going, but examples against it are right here...

All good on paper, but things go wrong during catastrophes. We had Katrina, in spite of well defended levees and it was a catastrophe. In recent years, we had major flooding in New York/New Jersey. In India too, thousands of people die every year due to flooding and overflow of flood plains and low-lying areas. Flooding scenes from Bombay are very common. Recently, there have been widespread floods in Madras and this year, much of Bangalore is underwater.

 

[DabbuSardar]

All good on paper, but things go wrong during catastrophes. We had Katrina, in spite of well defended levees and it was a catastrophe. In recent years, we had major flooding in New York/New Jersey. In India too, thousands of people die every year due to flooding and overflow of flood plains and low-lying areas. Flooding scenes from Bombay are very common. Recently, there have been widespread floods in Madras and this year, much of Bangalore is underwater.

Katrina and currently hurricane Ian are catastrophic we cant control.

These floods sure can be, lets not make excuses for incompetence, otherwise this cycle never ends.

 

[epebble]

Excellent reporting on the facts on the ground:

This is not our country’: At shelters in Karachi, flood victims struggle to stay afloat​

Amid rising diseases and lack of resources, there is little hope for flood affectees to cling on to.

‘This is not our country’: At shelters in Karachi, flood victims struggle to stay afloat

Amid rising diseases and lack of resources, there is little hope for flood affectees to cling on to.

www.dawn.com

 

[nahtanbob]

@RiazHaq @Joe Shearer @waz @Wood

Normally, I am a bit skeptical about countries blaming its own predicaments on others but in this case, I think Pak has a right to feel aggrieved. Not sure what Pak could have done to either avert the tragedy or ease the people's suffering post event. The whole subcontinent, large swaths of sub Saharan Africa are in the same boat

https://www.dawn.com/news/1707526/in...responsibility

IT is an extremely unfair equation: though Pakistan is responsible for only a small fraction of a single percentage point when it comes to historical global carbon dioxide emissions, it is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change wrought by pollution. Its vulnerabilities have now been brought to the fore after weeks of unnaturally high rainfall were triggered by an extended spell of heatwaves — the latter a key symptom of global warming, which scientists have been warning the world about for decades.

Part of the blame — for example, for not doing more to mitigate the effects of climate change — may lie with us, but it is not unreasonable, given the reams of scientific evidence on the subject, to expect rich, developed nations, which generate the bulk of the pollutants that have triggered climate change, to take greater responsibility.

It is unfair that our people are once again paying with their lives, homes and livelihoods for the damage wreaked on the global climate by much larger, far more industrialised nations, while the latter bear few of the costs for their rapacious activities.

The ‘thoughts and prayers’ sent by some world leaders seem quite inadequate in this respect, considering that their countries have played such an outsized role in throwing the global climate off kilter.

It is also unfortunate that even the material aid that has been sent so far by the more proactive nations seems quite underwhelming given the scale of the disaster that it is meant to ameliorate. The challenges faced by the global economy may be one of the reasons why some otherwise responsible nations have been slow in their response to Islamabad’s requests for assistance. It is hoped that politics is not among those reasons.

The natural disaster Pakistan is facing is not an outcome of its own policy options but a consequence of choices made by others. It has a right to some form of reparations given the sheer cost of what it is being forced to bear.

Wide income disparities mean most people in Pakistan have little in terms of personal wealth. Yet, they are also resilient and have always found ways to help each other despite their meagre resources whenever catastrophe strikes. Even now, while suffering backbreaking inflation — currently at levels not seen in decades — the country is pulling together to contribute and rebuild. It will need all the help it can get.

If millions and billions can continue to be poured into wars that kill and destroy, the world can also find funds to restore and rebuild. The cost of the climate crisis must not be for the most vulnerable countries to bear alone. The developed nations must take responsibility to restore at least some of the damage their actions have caused.

Regards

life is unfair. Get used to it.

who produces and profits from the fossil fuels ? Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait are all equally guilty as much as China, India and developed countries