History Repeats Itself As India and Pakistan Are Submerged in Floods

Two years ago in June, devastating floods hit the country of Pakistan. This catastrophe damaged the homes of 30 million people, displaced 8 million, and killed nearly 1,700 people. As for the economic damage, the cost was estimated to be nearly $30 billion. This year once again, Pakistan and its neighboring country India are submerged underwater.The floods in Pakistan this year are equally bad as the one last year if not worse. The charity Save the Children said that more than 150 children have died and 200 children have been injured because of the floods. These floods have also washed away homes, schools, and hospitals. Though most of the deaths and damages have happened in the southern provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, damages have occurred in the northern region. And it’s not just Pakistan, India is hit by catastrophic floods this year and the situation there is not any better. Unlike the floods in Pakistan, the floods in India have caused damage all over the country. In the state of Gujarat the floods have killed nearly 28 and displaced more than 24,000. In Tripura, a state in north-eastern India, 10 were killed and 34,000 were displaced. It doesn’t just end there; in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, states in South India, a total of 25 people have died. In Wayanad, a district in Kerala, another state in southern India; the floods there caused three landslides and it washed an entire village, killing 158 people and injuring a hundred more. 

To make matters worse, experts think that climate change/global warming is one of the biggest reasons why floods keep occurring in India and Pakistan. Almost 6 inches of rain fell on soil that was highly saturated for two months. According to the World Weather Attribution, a group of scientists who quantify the influence of climate change on weather, the area received 10% more rain this year than last year. Furthermore, the carbon emissions of other countries can also affect the climate change in other countries. For example, Pakistan’s global emissions contribute only to less than one percent of the globe share but the nation is ranked among the thirty countries most affected by climate change. So if every country does not work towards reducing their carbon emissions, countries like Pakistan and India will be one of the worst victims of climate change.

One would think that a catastrophe of this magnitude would be in the headlines of every news outlet, but the fact that Americans are extremely ignorant about it shows that headlines of CNN, Fox news, and other major news outlets are extremely dominated by domestic news events like the presidential elections. “I think if there are devastating floods taking place, especially in heavily populated areas we should hear about it and I think because the news has been flooded with the election and other domestic things I haven’t heard about the international news.” This is what 9th grade English teacher Michele Evans said when she was interviewed. Sophomore Shreeya Rajbhandari said that the floods are not getting enough attention in social media and that it deserves more attention. Rajbhandari also said “Because we [teenagers] see a lot of [bad] news everywhere and we are kind of getting desensitized to all of it.” What we need to do is spread more awareness in school. Rajbhandari suggested that we can use some of our social media platforms that focus on the environment and helping people. 

Despite the extensive news coverage of the floods in India and Pakistan, the damage caused is almost irreversible. The people of these two nations need a lot of support, money, and time in order to fully recover. The factor of climate change increasing the damage makes the road ahead for Indians and Pakistanis even more difficult.