EDITORIAL: It’s not at all surprising, even if it is monumentally tragic, that the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially warned late Sunday night of an impending “second disaster of disease and death” because of the horrible floods. What else can really be expected when parts of the country are still under 8 feet of stagnant water, millions of people continue to wait for shelter and clean water, and the trip to the nearest working medical facility often requires walking for miles without any rations? Water-borne diseases, diarrhea, malaria and dengue fever have literally swamped the land, threatening country-wide contagion just as medicines have started disappearing from shelves for completely different and unforgivable reasons.
Just last week, the government and aid agencies, which are doing the bulk of the work, put the overall damage from this disaster at around $40 billion so far. That explains why although a few million dollars here and there from countries is very welcome and indeed a godsend – Australia has just announced $3 million additional aid – all this will still not suffice to contain the damage.
The healthcare infrastructure dodged a bullet during the Covid scare, when it came painfully close to collapsing. Now there’s not just similar pressure on it, but also a logistical nightmare preventing people from accessing it; not to mention the lack of medical supplies and also the runaway inflation in prices of medicines that are still available.
All this also explains why both the government and the United Nations have been reduced to appealing to people to contribute urgently to the relief effort. When the damage from just four weeks of rains is already more than four times the national reserves, and a lot more is yet to come in the form of this “second disaster”, and it is also pretty clear that the state just does not have the ready cash to take care of everything at once, little else can be done.
It will also need a lot more help from the outside. Starting debates about debt swaps, even potential for complete write-off, is all very nice, but these are long-term things that will not solve immediate problems. Pakistan has already been treated very unfairly by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) in the matter of reviving the EFF (Extended Fund Facility), and it is hoped that the international community, including crucial IFIs (International Financial Institutions), will be more forthcoming because of the changed circumstances.
The most urgent task is bolstering the medical infrastructure. It’s a good thing that more than 2.5 million people have been treated in Sindh, but authorities will have to pick up the pace very quickly otherwise the whole system will be overwhelmed. This is one area where even the generosity of the public has limited effect. They can send blankets and jackets, but they can’t readily send medical treatment, and they can’t send too many medicines because there’s a criminal shortage in the market.
WHO’s warning is appreciated. Yet sounding the alarm here is only just as important as spreading the word far and wide. How quickly doctors, medicines and relief camps can be arranged will now make the difference between life and death for tens of millions of people. It would truly be a shame if the red flag that both Islamabad and the UN are waving right now goes unnoticed by countries that can easily throw enough money into this wound to stop the bleeding for now. Because, just like the water ravaging Pakistan right now, this climate catastrophe will eventually flood into other countries and drown them also.
It is a cruel irony that the people who have no part in any decision-making, in a country that has no contribution to climate degradation, are at the forefront of this tragedy. And it is crueler still that the countries and people who brought this pain and suffering upon the world are not nearly moved enough to spare the money needed to clean this mess.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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