UN chief asks world to 'massively' help flood-hit Pakistan

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MUNIR AHMED

ISLAMABAD (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world owes impoverished Pakistan “massive” help recovering from devastating floods because other nations have contributed more to the climate change thought to have triggered the deluge.

Months of monsoons and flooding have killed 1,391 people and affected 3.3 million in the Islamic nation. A half-million people there have become homeless. Planeloads of aid from the U.S., the United Arab Emirates and other countries have begun arriving. But there’s more to be done, Guterres said.

Nature, the U.N. chief said in Islamabad, has attacked Pakistan, which contributes less than 1% of global emissions, according to multiple experts. Nations ”who are more responsible for climate change...should have faced this challenge,” Guterres said, seated next to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“We are heading into a disaster,” Guterres added. “We have waged war on nature and nature is tracking back and striking back in a devastating way. Today in Pakistan, tomorrow in any of your countries.”



In this handout photo released by Pakistan Foreign Ministry Press Service, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, center, is received on his arrival by Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, left, in the airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. Guterres appealed to the world to help Pakistan after arriving in the country Friday to see damage from the record floods that have killed hundreds and left more than half a million people homeless and living in tents under the open sky. (Pakistan Foreign Ministry Press Service via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/floods-pakistan-united-nations-islamabad-antonio-guterres-2b9fe364b59b7f804d3b926c5cf82731?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_8

[Dysfunctional]

1. The only way they can really help Pakistan is to allow most Pakistan people to emigrate.

And as climate change gets worse there will be less land for people to live in.

[maxsolomon]

4. Emigrate where?

Here?

there are 220 million people in Pakistan.

[Dysfunctional]

5. I don't know, but it looks like they are going to have to go somewhere eventually.

And they are no the only ones.

[maxsolomon]

6. Pakistan is a nation with numerous Mountain Ranges.

It has glaciers. It's north of the Tropic of Cancer.

If all the Pakistanis have to leave because of ACC, then nearly everyone has to leave nearly everywhere.

That's not going to happen.

[NickB79]

8. Those glaciers irrigate their farms and will be largely gone in 50 years time

And then, their farmland will go the way of Arizona and California.

And India also relies on those same glacier-fed river systems.

So yes, they'll have to leave. It's inevitable, even if it seems inconceivable. Or, fight a bloody resource war with their neighbors. Who have nuclear weapons.

[Backseat Driver]

2. Several years back, I had neighbors from Pakistan.

Chaudra and his family had returned to Pakistan for several month-long visits while he lived here. He had a small garden, and his wife would share meal menus that sounded so good. I think he was an IT person, perhaps on a work visa??? They put up multi-color lights around the front door for their Festival of Light(?) holiday, Diwali, very much like winter's Christmas lights. We were not close but did have neighborly small-talk chats. Their children had been very young when they came to America and this was the only country they had known--two boys almost done with HS. Their friends from school gathered at their unit in the summer for swimming and basketball. One day, Chaudra told me his mother was quite ill so he and his family were going home for good. His kids were NOT happy to get this news, but on the appointed day - off they went. I often think about how Chaudra and his family have fared after these devastating floods, and whether the boys returned here for college.

[Irish_Dem]

3. As climate change devastates the planet and humans, how do we allocate resources?

Do we rebuild damaged areas over and over again?

Or relocate residents?
Where do they go? Where will be safe?

[maxsolomon]

7. Nations "who are more responsible for climate change...should have faced this challenge"

Should have; didn't. Won't.

Sorry, Pakistan! I'd tell you not to hate us, but you already do.