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 arthquake 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.』