The horrific flood in Pakistan, the worst in its history, has now destroyed more homes (650,000) than the 2005 earthquake. And, some 12 million Pakistanis, nearly 10 percent of the country’s population, have been at least somewhat affected by the floods. About 1600 persons have been killed.
The floods, having hit first the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa Province and the Swat Valley (earlier menaced by the Pakistani Taliban), and then southern Punjab, the floods are now heading toward Sindh, a major agricultural region.
The flooding is also shutting down power plants in a country that only generates 80% of the electricity it needs.
The ruling Pakistan People’s Party is being widely criticized for its failure to respond to the massive needs of the people, generated by this catastrophe. And President Asaf Ali Zardari’s visit to the UK, where he met with British Prime Minister David Cameron, has provoked a firestorm of criticism from Pakistanis who think he should have stayed home and helped manage the crisis.
Anything that could pull down the government, as an inept response to the flood could, has security implications in the fight against the Taliban. (The Pakistani Taliban have actually taken advantage of the chaos to launch some attacks).
Aljazeera English has video on the Punjab situation:
It should be getting worse as well with further heavy rains forecast over the next few days. When you factor in reports that the Taliban are using the huge amounts of internal refugees moving as a cover to move around the country and NATO supplies badly disrupted due to collapsing of many bridges this seems to perfectly illustrate how the climate can have military and national security implications.
Also before Zardari arrived in the UK he was seen in a French Chalet drinking Champagne with French officials while his countrymen wade through water. This certainly could be Mr 10%’s Katrina.
President Zardari has acted disgracefully but entirely typically.
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I presume that all these homes and villages were built in the Indus River flood plain, which appears to be several miles wide for most of its length.
Were flood control structures like the Tarbela Dam overwhelmed ?
Is Karachi threatened ?
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It’s the right of elected leaders to fail.
I wonder how many of my fellow Americans reacted to this sorrowful situation with the same smug cruelty that John Hagee and people like him displayed, saying hurricanes inundating New Orleans and tsunamis clobbering the shores of the Indian Ocean are “God’s judgment” on those wicked infidels. I hope that American “assets” and behavior in the field, as it were, will prove better than that kind of tripe what the good side of common humanity can be. At least tell the CIA Contractors to stop playing with their Reaper joysticks, squirting off those Hellfires, for a week or three…
. We need to run a campaign and take participate in fund raising. We should voluntarily stand up and play our role.
Before reaching perfection everything undergoes through worse process. Sad but true that our country’s being through a tough time but that’s my faith we will strike back with such a power that Muslims will be ruling the world again.
Let’s join the hands for Flood Affected People and pray for the success and prosperity of Pakistan.