“NO WORK LEFT”
Many of the flood-displaced in southern Sindh province have sought shelter in urban centres, including tens of thousands recorded at relief camps and many more in the homes of relatives or rental properties.
With homes and livelihoods washed away, some are expected to abandon their rural lives, heaping pressure on already-swelling cities grappling with a long-term “major crisis of urban governance”, according to Nausheen H. Anwar, a professor of urban planning in Karachi.
“We are not prepared for what’s going to happen,” she said of migration due to climate change. “These flows are going to be inevitable.”
Muhammad Hanif, 20, has had enough after seeing his livestock perish and crops wrecked.
“It is unliveable here. There is no work left. We will have to go to Karachi.”
The standard of living in the southern megacity of more than 25 million is a little better for impoverished arrivals.
Pakistan’s economic capital suffers from poorly maintained roads, crippled drainage and sewerage systems, water distribution in the grip of mafias, electricity shortages, and inadequate housing.
Migrants often live in shanty towns working as street vendors or daily wage labourers.
“We really need to put more focus on cities and their governance systems,” Anwar said. “Rural is important, but so is the urban, and they’re both interlinked.”
Between six and nine million Pakistanis are set to be dragged into poverty as a result of this year’s cataclysmic monsoon flooding that has sent food prices soaring and is estimated to cost at least US$30 billion in loss and damage, according to government estimates
Even before the deluge, Pakistan’s economy was struggling, with soaring inflation, a plunging rupee, and dwindling foreign exchange reserves.
Calls are growing from the government and activists for richer and more industrialised nations with larger carbon footprints to offer debt relief to Pakistan as a form of climate justice.
Demands for the largest emitters to take financial responsibility for the climate chaos impacting poorer nations are expected to dominate a UN summit next month.