Pakistan floods constitute ‘climate massacre’, says UN

First modification: 09/11/2022 – 11:15

“I have seen many humanitarian disasters in the world, but I have never seen a climate massacre on such a scale,” Guterres told a news conference in the port city of Karachi, after visiting parts of Pakistan hit by the disaster.

About 1,400 people have died since June in the floods, caused by devastating monsoon winds. The floodwaters covered a third of the country – an area equivalent to that of the United Kingdom – and destroyed homes, businesses, roads, bridges and crops.

The floods affected some 33 million people who were left homeless.

Guterres had stated shortly before, in Islamabad, that “Pakistan and other developing countries (…) are paying an atrocious price for the intransigence of the large emitters [de gases de efecto invernadero] who continue betting on fossil fuels”.

“From Islamabad, I launch a global call: stop this madness. Invest now in renewable energy. End the war against nature,” he proclaimed.

Pakistan, a highly indebted country, estimates that it will need at least 10,000 million dollars to rebuild the infrastructures totally or partially destroyed by the waters.

For Guterres, financial aid from the international community “is not a matter of generosity, but of justice.”

The monsoon, which usually lasts from June to September, is essential for irrigating the plantations and for replenishing the water resources of the Indian subcontinent. But Pakistan had not seen such torrential rains in at least three decades.