Melting glaciers and torrential rains are wrecking lives. Western governments must step up their response<\/p>\n
The harm and distress caused by floods in Pakistan<\/a> are difficult \u2013 if not impossible \u2013 to quantify, as a crisis of vast proportions keeps unfolding. They have killed around 1,000 people so far this summer, with at least 119 losing their lives in one 24-hour period last week. The number of those who have lost their homes, or been evacuated, is in the millions, with 300,000 dwellings destroyed. More than 33 million people are affected \u2013 around one in seven of the population. The country\u2019s climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, says the floods \u2013 caused by torrential monsoon rains and melting glaciers \u2013 are the worst in living memory. Around a third of Pakistan is under water. Vitally important agricultural land will take months to drain.<\/p>\n Hunger, homelessness and the spread of water-borne diseases<\/a> are among the most immediate problems, and humanitarian aid must be urgently ramped up if further suffering is to be prevented. Supplies have begun to arrive from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, but Pakistan\u2019s government is right to expect more<\/a> \u2013 especially from the rich western nations that bear the greatest responsibility for global heating. Pakistan has more glaciers \u2013 7,532 \u2013 than anywhere on Earth outside the polar regions, and is thus one of the countries most endangered by fossil fuel use and the temperature rises and other extreme weather that it causes.<\/p>\n