Pakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has launched an emotive appeal on Tuesday, ahead of a big conference next week, imploring the international world to generously donate funding to flood victims in the country.
While Pakistan plays a minor influence in global warming, the country remains vulnerable to climate-related disasters. According to experts, the country emits less than 1% of heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
Even before the torrential monsoon rains hit in mid-June, cash-strapped Pakistan was in deep trouble, with experts estimating that the floods caused up to USD 40 billion in damage and that without international assistance, Pakistan would be unable to restore wrecked homes and infrastructure.
The meeting in Geneva on Monday, co-hosted by the UN and Pakistan, aims to raise funding for victims of last summer’s severe flooding, which experts link in part to climate change.
The calamity claimed the lives of 1,739 persons and affected 33 million Pakistanis. At one point, a third of the country’s land area was submerged.
Bhutto-Zardari is seeking to attract attention to the suffering of homeless survivors, many of whom are now forced to live out in the cold. His purpose, he stated, is for the world to remember the flood victims.
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The United Nations recently warned that money for Pakistan’s flood victims will run out after January 15, because the international organization has only received a third of the USD 816 million in emergency help requested last October for food, medicines, and other supplies for the survivors.
“There was no fault of innocent Pakistanis, but they paid a heavy price because of climate-induced floods,” Bhutto-Zardari said in televised remarks from Badin, one of the worst flood-hit areas in the southern Sindh province.
Story was adapted from Outlook.
