ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been experiencing an increase in extreme weather events like rains, floods and even above-normal day temperatures as Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has once again warned that the mercury may jump up to 5 Degree Celsius over average in some areas of the South Asian country from May 8 to May 10.
On the other hand, the PMD said that the heatwave would not last long because of a western disturbance that will begin affecting several areas of the country from Friday to Sunday, thus bringing the mercury down noticeably.
Talking to this website, Islamabad based journalist Asem Mustafa said that heatwaves pose a serious challenge to the environment and economy and agriculture. He said that the disastrous potential of heatwaves in the country is illustrated by current and historical incidents. He added that a severe heatwave with mercury reaching about 40 degrees Celsius struck Sindh province in June 2015. Asem Mustaf added that the provincial city of Sindh experienced most of the casualties due to heatstroke.
He maintained that several cities of Pakistan had witnessed over 50°C temperature from March to May 2022. He said that the heatwaves were also followed by fatal monsoon rains, and floods that affected more than 33 million people leaving them in lurch. He said that more than 1,700 people were killed in the devastating floods while more than 2.2 million homes were destroyed due to heavy rains and floods in Pakistan.
The Met Office said that the daytime temperature in Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad, Punjab, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are likely to remain 3 to 5 Degree Celsius above normal till May 10. But on Friday evening and Saturday, a westerly will start producing wind storms, rain and thunderstorms in north-western Balochistan.
While talking to this website, Islamabad based journalist Asma Kundi said that there is need to create awareness among the people to address the pressing issue of climate change in Pakistan. She said that Pakistan is contributing only 0.9 percent of global greenhouse gas emission but is one of the most vulnerable nations to the impacts of challenge of climate change. She insisted that it is the responsibility of the international community to join hand with Pakistan to curb this challenge. She said that mere promises are not enough to overcome the problem as climate change is affecting every sector from agriculture to economy. She said that people should be equipped how to deal heatwave in their daily lives to reduce its impact. She was of the view that Pakistan took a lot of steps to address the issue of climate change including passing laws.
The PMD’s warning comes as Pakistan had recently experience heavy rains and floods, which claimed many lives and also damaged crops in many parts of the South Asian country.
PMD stated in its monthly climate report that “excessively above” the normal average rainfall made the last month “wettest April since 1961”, as the South Asian nation received more than twice the rain it generally experiences for the month. It said in the report that climate change is a main reason that is influencing the unpredictable weather patterns in the country.
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Keywords: Climate Change, Heatwave, Rains in Pakistan
