The recent floods affected 5.36 million people, damaged about 1.19 million houses and killed 233 people.
“Rains in Sindh are the highest ever recorded monsoon rains during the four weeks' period. Sindh this year received 270 percent and 1,170 percent above-normal monsoon rains, respectively in August and September," he said, adding that in just four weeks, the otherwise dry, arid region received rainfall which was close to what it got normally in five years.
“Though sometimes it is difficult to relate extreme weather events to climate change, if we look at the frequency and the trend of the extreme weather events happening in Pakistan during the last two decades, it is easy to find its connection with climate change," said Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, Adviser Climate Affairs and Vice-President of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Asia Region, on Thursday.
He, however, added that it was still difficult to explain floods in Sindh under natural climate variability.
According to him, the pattern of recent extreme weather events in Pakistan clearly indicates increased frequency and intensity of such events, which are in line with the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate change projections.
Dr Chaudhry, who is also the lead author and architect of the country's first Draft National Climate Change Policy, said that Pakistan was heading for increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including frequent floods and droughts. Read the full report here.
Source: M. Waqar Bhatti, The News.
