Heavy downpour have resulted in havoc flood situation across Sindh and Balochistan province of Pakistan.
According to Provincial Disaster Management Authority, more than 1.6 million people have been impacted by the devastating flood. Locals have considered it to be for the first time that heavy rain have impacted their lives by displacing their homes.
Generally speaking, some of the traditional reasons behind floods in Pakistan includes the rise in sea level. As rising sea level is due to melting down of glaciers worldwide owing to climate change. Another reason is the rising temperature of the ocean. It ultimately causes the heavy rainfalls and cyclones.
A research study has examined that the rise in sea level along side the coastal Sindh has resulted in the seawater intrusion towards the land. Intruding sea level pose some unprecedented challenges to the areas where usually economic activities are centered. The question arises that what causes the sea intrusion?. Sea intrusion occur usually due to the thermal expansion, ocean currents and monsoons.
As warming of sea water causes the the top most layers of the ocean to release the heat towards the atmosphere. However, the layers below naturally retains the heat which causes the rise in the temperature of seawaters.
It would be not wrong to say that Climate change has a direct impact on the changing patterns of monsoon rains. The way country has been witnessing the rising sea level, frequent rains falls along side devastating floods, it all shows that how Pakistan is vulnerable to climate change.
Apart from the traditional reasons behind floods, some other aspects are also responsible for urban flooding upon which the infrastructural challenges stands above all. Due to poor infrastructure and lack of solid waste management all such factors lead to the flooding in different areas across the country. The situation of flood has portrayed a bleak picture of the fact that the region of Balochistan as well as Sindh are highly neglected in terms of infrastructural development. The marginalization of areas ultimately gives the birth to such havoc and pave the way for nature to have massive destruction.
Pakistan being the most vulnerable state in terms of climate change needs to address this concern for protecting the state from devastating floods in upcoming future.
