“Please raise your hand if you haven’t eaten in the last 24 hours”, the eyes of 20 families look at us and tentatively each person, from mothers cradling their newborns to young groups of children, raise their hand. I’m on the roof of the last remaining structure in the 'Qaim Jatoi' village, the public school, where families have taken refuge with no government or international non-governmental organisations (INGOS) aid in sight. One mother holds up a half-filled Ziploc bag of flour to which I ask if it was her only food to feed her family? She replies that not only was it the only food to feed her own family, but the only food to feed the other 19 families on the roof.

This anecdote of extreme famine is the palpitating narrative shared by over 33 million others in Pakistan who have been catastrophically affected by the flooding in June 2022. Whilst monsoon rains in Pakistan have varied on a yearly basis, the World Meteorological Organisation have used computer simulations to indicate that climate change has led to Pakistan receiving more than 300x more rain in its 30-year national average. Further statistics have shown that climate change has directly contributed to these floods, the World Weather Attribution found that global omitted greenhouse gasses made the extreme spring heat and droughts in Pakistan 30 times more likely to occur. Pakistan only emits 0.7% of global greenhouse gasses, yet this flooding from climate change has been estimated to cost the country over $30 billion.When we combine the 300x higher rainfall and the Pakistan government's failure to react to warnings, I have discovered that climate change has directly caused the worst humanitarian crisis currently occurring in the world.

The UN reports that over a 1/3rd of Pakistan (the entire area of Portugal) is underwater with 13.8 million acres of agricultural land destroyed, 1400 killed, 13,000 injured and 8 million displaced. I spent a month documenting these floods with my friend Omar Hamed Beato within the province of Sindh, one of the worst affected areas in Pakistan. Sindh has had over 3 million acres of agricultural land flooded, 1.5 million houses destroyed and 1.7 million people displaced. These Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) now live in home-made tents made of gathered logs and cloth along Pakistan’s 3 main ‘bunds’ (flood walls) due to the lack of international NGO and government aid. 

Whaad Bux (70) is one of the hundreds of thousands living on the ‘Surprio’ Bund in a mosquito-riddled tent with his wife and 5 children. His family has lived here since August and he tells us of the harrowing situation faced by everyone. The last food drop that the locals received was by a Pakistan NGO over 3 weeks ago and they have not received aid since. This drop provided 40kg of wheat and rice; barely enough to feed 7 families. Whaad informs me that many have not eaten for 9 days and the situation with clean water is even worse… locals have no access to it. The bund contains two hand pumps, situated within the flooded water, which collect underground 'drinking' water. However, this water is contaminated with water-borne bacteria and leads to life-threatening diarrhoea. Furthermore, locals are suffering with skin and eye infections due to wading through the floodwater to access the pump.

“We don’t know when we will receive food, people haven’t eaten in 9 days” Whaad solemnly tells me.

 In front of me is an 8 year old boy attached to an IV drip with his eyes rolled into the back of his skull. I’m inside Suprio Bund’s singular medical tent which has been solely funded by the 3 local volunteer doctors. These doctors tell me that the scene I am witnessing is common and down to drinking this contaminated water which causes life-threatening dehydration through diarrhoea; locals have no choice, there is no bottled water. Over my 2 days here, I see this IV drip being used as a conveyable belt by suffering locals and the severe shortages of medication mean this belt will no longer be a viable option in the coming weeks.

The lack of clean water is just one of the contributors that has led to a resultant health epidemic in Pakistan. The unsanitary conditions of the flooding has led to gastrointestinal diseases, skin diseases, typhoid, cholera and dengue fever being rampant, but by far it is malaria that is now Pakistan’s biggest killer.

Drinking contaminated water, an 8 year old severely dehydrated from diarrhoea and attached to an IV drip.

The Flood’s Silent Killer

Mosquitos, Mosquitos, Mosquitos; the stagnant water has become the breeding ground of malaria (and dengue fever). The flooding has directly increased malaria cases by 800,000 to 3.4 million suspected cases in August 2022 and this figure continues to rise with Sindh reporting 44,000 more cases in a week during September. The UN has warned of the ‘very high risk’ that the Pakistan national health system will face and this was already evident when I visited Sehwan hospital.

Sat in Sehwan hospital's head office, the hospital director warns me of the scenes that I'll find; the hospital is treating 3x more than its maximum capacity. Even with this warning, I was not prepared for what I would see. Two to three mothers are sharing hospital beds whilst cradling their barely conscious children, malaria-stricken locals lay lifelessly whilst doctors and nurses frantically try to deal with the influx of patients. The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) contains the worst scenes with mothers sat helplessly next to their malnourished babies in shared cots. We talked to a grandmother who tells me that the unsanitary conditions of flooded areas led to her daughter dying during birth and now she is solely responsible for keeping her grandson alive. I have never seen a baby so weak, the outline of his skeleton was visible throughout his face and body with his malnutrition so critical that he had been moved from Hyderabad hospital to the more specialist Sehwan hospital. Despite this referral, the staff and facilities were completely overwhelmed to provide sufficient treatment and I understood why she was terrified for his survival.

Within this isolated context of suffering, these were the ‘lucky’ ones who had been able to access a hospital. Thousands remain trapped in their waterlocked villages being too poor to afford the travel and treatment. I was told stories of locals selling their cattle (the only assets farmers have been able to keep) to get their loved ones to hospital. Khairpur Nathan Shuh (KNS) is one of these waterlocked villages and it took us 30 minutes by boat to access it. What I would see in KNS would sadden anyone to the core, that sadness remains with me to this day.

In KNS, the air lays thick with a stench of sewage, toxic green scum floats on the water and locals are forced to walk waist-deep through it. We meet a local called Fareed (18) who tows our boat to the footsteps of his family home. Fareed’s mother, Naseem (44), shows us their living conditions; their home is destroyed, the floor is moped up by brown floodwater-soaked clothes and their 8 young children are playing amongst the swarms of flies and mosquitos.

Fareed’s family are suffering with malnutrition and the children suffer from high fevers, most likely malaria due to their lack of mosquito nets and repellent. Naseem’s 3-year-old grandson, Ali Abbas, has had hepatitis-A for the last 3 months and Fareed tells me he remains weak due to the lack of nutrition. Ali contracted hepatitis-A due to the unsanitary conditions of the floods which resulted in him eating or drinking fecal-contaminated food/water.

Naseem tells me her fear of losing her children to disease. The family are farmers and have no source of income because her husband, Khadim Ali, lost all his crops in the floods. Consequently, Naseem cannot afford enough food and the life-saving medicine for her children. She tells me that she's “scared for the future" and thinks her family’s future is “bleak”.

I cannot help but tear up as we say goodbye, the sadness knowing that when I return to my normal life these kind people will continue to suffer without any signs of help coming. These conditions are inhumane and I question how the international community remains silent. We, the West, are one of the main contributors to climate change yet our governments and media remain silent on these people dying as a direct result of our consumption.

The Streets Of Khairpur Nathan Shuh.

The Next Great Famine Crisis: domestic and International Aid

The next great famine crisis is looming with almost half of Pakistan’s population having no income for the next year. Agriculture makes up 20% of Pakistan’s GDP and employs 40% of the population, with a third of the country remaining underwater for at least 6 months, these farmers will have no harvest come April. This combination of a lack of income, domestic corruption and an abandonment from the international community will leave millions in extreme poverty or death.

Domestic Aid

In terms of domestic aid, the humanitarian crisis has been a political chess game. A spiderweb of connections led us from couch-surfing to staying in an office-seeking politician’s ‘palace’. This politician came into our room at 11pm to begin intricately drawing a map that argued that the current government deliberately excavated the flood walls to flood their own regions so that they would receive more aid from the World Bank. This theory falls apart once you learn that aid from the international community does not reach 1/30th of the cost of the damage. Once he learned that we would not make our film under his narrative, he withdrew the translator that he had provided just before filming. My time in Pakistan has shown me that its politicians have placed their own interests over the needs of its people and with Sindh having a literacy rate of 30%, I was horrified to learn that this conspiracy theory is the accepted narrative in the area rather than the impact of climate change.

Corruption is rife within Pakistan's politics with the UN's Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Julien Harreis, arguing that only $38.5 million out of the $150 million in foreign aid to Pakistan has been converted into assistance. The evidence on the ground supports this corruption with locals having pleaded, along with cried, during interviews that aid must not be given to the government because they do not receive it. Furthermore, not once have I seen or heard any forms of government aid; an apolitical aid worker told me that the current government is waiting closer to the 2023 general election before they start increasing aid efforts, whilst I cannot confirm this, the evidence from my own eyes and locals seems to support his statement.

International Aid

With the domestic situation dire, I hoped INGOs would fill this void. However, despite the western media suggesting a wide-spread response from INGOs such as the UN, UNICEF, World Food Programme and MSF, my eyes have seen a different story. In my month here, I did not see or hear of an INGO operating in Sindh; not one of the hundreds of locals I talked to have, or know anyone who has, received INGO aid. Whilst domestic Pakistan NGOs have been more proactive, they lack the infrastructure and resources to make a real impact.

Despite this lack of response from INGOs, they cannot be predominately blamed for the lack of the international response. The bulk of INGO funding comes from international governments who use them as a conduit to provide aid, if there is a lack of funding then INGOs cannot provide aid. This was shown by UNICEF only reaching a third of its $39 million appeal. Consequently, the failure of the international community's response stems from the silence of international governments.

Economically developed countries emit high levels of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, and are the most responsible for this crisis. A country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measurement of their wealth and high levels of GDP result in high levels of ‘production-based carbon dioxide emissions’ and ‘consumption-based carbon dioxide emissions’. Therefore, we must measure a country’s level of aid in relation to their GDP and global emissions to assess how much responsibility has been accepted for this humanitarian disaster.

The three largest contributors towards climate change are China, the United States and the European Union; all three have failed to accept their responsibility in contributing to this humanitarian crisis.

China is the current highest polluter of greenhouse gasses, emitting 30.7% of global emissions, but cumulatively still ranks behind US and EU. The Chinese government has only donated an estimated RMB 400 million (£50 million), despite having the world’s second highest level of GDP at $17.73 trillion dollars.

The US has cumulatively emitted the highest levels of carbon dioxide (currently emitting 13.5% of global emissions) and has the highest global GDP of $23 trillion. This standing of wealth and power has led the US to historically place itself as the leader within the global order and has been demonstrated by its international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Consequently, it would be expected that the US would lead the international response to a nation affected by climate change, especially with President Biden’s re-joining of the Paris agreement. However, the US has provided less than $100 million dollars in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan. This is a pittance to the $1.5 billion it has provided in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the war, a humanitarian disaster which has affected 3x less people.

Lastly, the European Union currently emits 8.4% of overall global greenhouse gasses and has cumulatively emitted the second highest global levels of carbon dioxide. Despite this, its member states (who have a total GDP of €14.5 trillion) have only donated €123 million. The EU’s most economically developed member, Germany (GDP of $4.3 trillion in 2021), has donated the bulk of this figure with €60 million. France trails Germany by being the EU’s second most economically developed country, with a GDP with $2.9 trillion, yet the French Government’s aid of 83 water pumps, 200 tents and €1 million seems like an afterthought.

The 3 largest contributors to climate change have clearly failed to remunerate the suffers of their consumption, however they are not the only countries who have failed to accept their responsibility in this crisis. Not one economically developed country has accepted its role in creating these floods; the UK has donated only $17 million, Australia $2 million and Canada $25 million. When their aid is compared to their respective GDP and global carbon emissions it demonstrates how the international community has failed to accept their role in this humanitarian crisis.

Ultimately, the world remains silent as over 33 million suffer in silence and unless things change, Pakistani lives will become the collateral of continued global carbon emissions.

I have created a fundraiser for the Pakistani families (including the 20 on the roof) that I met during my time on the ground and have distributed 11 large food bags and 60 mosquito nets, however the families require medication and warm clothes for the winter. Please donate below if you have anything spare and if not then just talk about this crisis  - the more discourse, the more pressure on governments to act. Thank you!