Today’s Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home
will be presented
in Urdu and English
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
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Greetings, caring viewers,
to another edition of
Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
In 2009
hydrological disasters
were the most frequent
type of natural disaster
comprising over 53% of
all such events globally.
Of the 180 reported
hydrological disasters
worldwide, 149 were floods
and 31 were
wet mass movements
like landslides, with
over 57.3 million victims.
Compared to 2008,
the number of persons
affected
increased by 27.4%.
The continent with
the largest occurrence of
floods in 2009 was Asia.
Today we focus on
the disastrous floods
that occurred
in the South Asian nation
of Pakistan during
July and August 2010.
Pakistan has
a varied geography that
includes plains, deserts,
forests, hills and plateaus.
The country can be
roughly divided into
three main parts –
the northern uplands,
the Balochistan Plateau
and the Indus River plain.
The majority
of the nation’s population
of 174 million lives
along the Indus River.
In recent years
Pakistan has experienced
an increasing number of
natural disasters
including earthquakes,
floods and droughts.
In October 2005,
a 7.6 magnitude
earthquake caused
over 70,000 deaths and
damaged approximately
600,000 homes.
In addition, rapid melting
of the Himalayan
and Hindu Kush
mountain glaciers,
the world’s third largest
frozen fresh water reserve
that feeds 10 important
river systems in Asia,
is seriously threatening
the country’s long-term
primary water supply.
Beginning in July 2010
the worst flooding
in 80 years hit Pakistan,
causing unprecedented
damage in the nation.
Thus far, more than
20-million people
have been affected,
with nearly 2,000 deaths,
almost 3,000 injured and
over 1.9-million homes
damaged or destroyed
in the disaster.
Three-quarters
of the affected population
live in the Sindh
and Punjab provinces.
According to the website
of the National Disaster
Management Authority,
which is a part of
the Pakistani government:
“The magnitude
[of the flooding]
is so huge both in scale
and destruction
that it is more than twice
than the Pakistan
Earthquake 2005,
Cyclone Katrina 2005,
Indian Ocean
Tsunami 2004,
Cyclone Nargis 2008 and
Haiti Earthquake 2010,
all put together in terms
of geographical space
and population affected.”
Over 36 hours beginning
on July 26, 2010,
extreme monsoon rains
poured 312 millimeters
of precipitation
on Pakistan’s Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province.
Hundreds of mud houses
were swept away.
Government buildings,
local businesses, schools
and bridges were ruined
and thousands of hectares
of crops were wiped out.
In the wake of the flooding
the government declared
a state of emergency,
and in addition to food,
other relief items
such as boats, tents,
dewatering pumps,
blankets, medicines,
mobile clinics, ambulances,
medical equipment,
hygiene kits and tarpaulins
were urgently requested
from the international
community.
Transportation systems
such as highways
and rail networks
were paralyzed.
Approximately
657 kilometers of roads
and 35 bridges were
damaged or destroyed
by floods.
Sehwan Sharif Airport
in Sindh was shut down
after a levee
containing a nearby lake
was breached,
leaving the facility
more than a meter deep
in water.
Flood waters came
at 3:00 AM.
All we could do
was save ourselves.
Most of our stuff is
buried under the rubble
and our house is destroyed.
Our houses had mud water
like this high;
animals were lying dead
around us.
I was screaming and
could not stop crying
seeing all that.
Relief efforts
by the military
and emergency workers
were started,
but the torrential rainfall
and high waters
hampered their efforts.
On August 8,
another deluge
added to the crisis,
as landslides pummeled
the country’s northern
regions, including
the entire northwestern
Swat Valley.
Parts of Punjab
and Sindh provinces
were affected as well.
On August 14 and 21,
the Indus River once more
breached its banks,
inundating more villages
and towns, and displacing
hundreds of thousands
in the southern provinces
of Sindh and Balochistan.
Flood victims
had to escape to schools
and mosques for shelter.
Some were left stranded
on rooftops or on isolated
patches of higher ground.
The only way to reach many
was by helicopter or boat.
We spent some nights
there on the top
of the hill.
The people who have
relatives in safe areas
in that area got shelter
from them, and those who
don’t are going here and
there in search of shelter
to escape the waters.
These children
all live in a camp. They
are being provided food,
water and tented shelter
that you can see behind me.
But it is very open
and very, very difficult
for their families.
UNICEF is supporting
with water and sanitation
and digging latrines and
making sure that children
have vitamins and
medicines as well.
The number of
individuals that
have been provided
shelter is between
1.2 and 1.5 million.
The support arriving in
the pipeline is estimated
at another 2.5-million
individuals that can be
assisted with shelter.
So putting those together
you are looking at
just short of four-million
individuals that will be
assisted with shelter.
The estimated need
is somewhere around
eight million.
Therefore there
is still a sizable shortfall
in the shelter needs.
Eighty percent
of the people
in the affected regions
rely on agriculture
to make a living
and a staggering
22,000 square kilometers
of farmland,
including the most fertile
and productive areas
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
and Punjab, have been
submerged or devastated
by the massive flooding.
The floodwaters
ruined approximately
two-million metric tons
of rice,
10 million metric tons
of sugarcane, and
half a million metric tons
of wheat seed stocks.
The United Nations
estimates
that 12-million people
are still in need of
emergency food aid.
Seventy-five percent
of irrigation
has been destroyed,
like all cultivated land,
crops; everything
has been destroyed
because of this water.
People have been
migrating from
Shikarpur to these areas.
They don’t have anything
to eat, they don’t have
any shelter.
They were already running,
just not sure where
to move, and where not to.
The WFP (World Food
Programme) is scaling up
its operation,
providing food to more
than six-million people
affected by the flood.
It still remains a challenge,
and of course, logistics
is a bigger challenge
when roads are gone,
bridges have gone down.
We need international
assistance as quickly
as possible.
Drinking contaminated
water from roadsides,
rivers, ponds and lakes
has made victims
vulnerable to illnesses
such as diarrhea
and cholera.
Malaria is a danger
as mosquitoes breed in
standing pools of water.
The damage or destruction
of over 500
health care facilities has
worsened the situation.
We suffered a lot.
We had a lack of
clean water and
had to drink flood water.
Cholera is breaking out,
and that is going
to be very dangerous.
Drinking water and
the saches for purifying it
are going to become
very important
over the next few days.
It is possible to expect
an increase of malaria cases
due to the exposure
of people to water.
We are expecting
this increase to be
in the next four weeks.
I’ve seen young children
here with skin diseases
and other things setting in.
So we have to make sure
we have
the nutritional content and
the full ration coming on.
The economic cost
of the floods is staggering,
with Pakistani officials
indicating it could approach
US$43 billion.
In addition,
His Excellency
Asif Ali Zardari,
President of Pakistan,
worries that
it could take his nation
years to recover
from the catastrophe.
I think a lot of us
haven’t understood
the scale of this disaster.
It is horrendous.
It is going to put us back
so many years that
we’re not even starting
on the infrastructure.
They [the floods]
have devastated
the infrastructure.
Roads have been
washed away, bridges
have been washed away.
The people
are in great need
of life-saving assistance
at this time.
Food, medical (care),
shelter, the needs are huge.
To get there the
World Food Programme
and our partners are
using every means possible.
We have started
a helicopter airlift to
people who are stranded.
We are also using
on the ground support;
people are using carts.
Whatever we can find
to move food and other
life support assistance
we will do so.
Normal monsoon rains
enormously magnified by
climate change
are considered
the primary cause
of the disaster.
World Meteorological
Association director
Ghassem Asrar’s assessment
is that a warming
Atlantic Ocean coupled
with the La Niña effect,
meaning
lower temperatures in
the central Pacific Ocean,
created the conditions for
the very intense rainfalls.
Regarding the calamity
in Pakistan,
he stated in an interview,
“There's no doubt
that clearly
the climate change is …
a major contributing factor.”
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri,
head of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change
has said,
“The floods of the kind
that hit Pakistan may
become more frequent
and more intense
in the future in this and
other parts of the world.”
It was clear that
the monsoons, this year,
are turning into a killer.
It’s due to global warming
and the climate change.
Now after seeing the
results of climate change
in Pakistan,
I say to all other countries,
they must do something
prior to any disaster,
because we are
in the disaster now.
I ask the world,
the climate is changing now,
and they have seen
the tragedy of
climate change, the climax
of the climate change
in Pakistan.
Climate change (is)
very horrible, very terrible.
We have to do something.
The warming of our planet
is mostly driven by
factory farming.
In the report “Livestock
and Climate Change,”
published in
World Watch magazine
in 2009, it was estimated
that over 51%
of human-caused global
greenhouse gas emissions
arise from the cycle of
producing and consuming
animal products.
Pakistani-American
professor Saleem H. Ali,
an environmental expert,
believes that avoiding meat
is one of the best ways
for individuals to help
mitigate global warming.
I think we need
a much more
responsible lifestyle.
We can get a huge return
in terms of a reduction
in greenhouse gas
emissions if
people adopted more
vegetarian lifestyles.
It’s good for their health
and it’s good
for the environment.
You would also be
following Islamic ethics
in my view because
in Islam, overall,
as with most religions,
wastage is a sin.
If you are wasting
precious resources to just
have a meat-centered diet,
I think that is contrary
to the vision of Islam.
And if you go back to
the time of Muhammad,
the founder of Islam,
Prophet Muhammad,
he had a very spartan
lifestyle, he was not
into big feasts and huge,
grandiose spending.
In all Muslim traditions,
their usual diet was much
more vegetable-based.
Similarly,
on an individual level,
I have been trying to
get Muslim countries
to also educate people
about the greenhouse-gas
emissions from especially
beef production,
which is a huge problem.
With more and more
people across the globe
adopting the harmonious,
plant-based lifestyle,
the day will soon come
where we finally
halt climate change.
We sincerely thank
the many compassionate
countries,
international organizations
and relief workers
for their generosity,
tireless efforts
and dedication in helping
alleviate the agony of
Pakistan’s flood victims.
May all the affected
soon be able to resume
their normal lives.
Have great courage,
do not despair and have
a strong sense of hope.
I’m here to bring
the hope and future,
better future for all of you.
God-willing!
Green viewers,
thank you for joining us
on today’s Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment
after Noteworthy News.
May your days be filled
with love and bliss.