More than 1,500 people have died in monsoon floods in Pakistan, and the waters that nearly inundated the entire country have yet to relent. The current emergency is causing illness and communicable disease to spread, and these effects are likely to be more deadly than the initial catastrophe. Richard Brennan is the regional emergency director for the eastern Mediterranean region at the WHO.
According to the United Nations, almost eight million people have been displaced in Pakistan, and many of them are living in unsanitary conditions. The situation are becoming more common. Disasters caused by climate change are triggering a second emergency of disease transmission. The health impacts of future flood disasters are mitigated by solutions that exist.
Normally, in floods, you have something acute. Brennan says you shift into recovery and rebuild mode after searching and rescue. We are still in the early stages of the emergency. He says he saw a lot of water on the ground in Pakistan recently. About 600,000 people are living in camps. He says that the rest are spread out along the side of the road from Karachi to the north. Some people on the side of the road are lucky because they can get aid. Only a small number of communities can be reached by boat.
Conditions favorable for the spread of disease have been created by the reality of millions of people living in crowded unsanitary conditions without access to clean water. Brennan says that standing water is an ideal place for mosquitoes to breed. There are many respiratory illnesses. Skin infections and blisters have been caused by toxic flooding. There are more than 127,000 pregnant people in the country, according to the U.N. Population Fund. How do they do that? Do you mean on the side of the road? Brennan wants to know. A countrywide loss of food storage is causing a lot of malnutrition. Mental health impacts haven't been measured. It will be months before the floods are over. Pakistan presents a portent of things to come as a result of climate change.
The impacts of climate change are different across the world. The power of floods depends on where the rain occurs. The amount of precipitation is not the only thing that matters. A climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles says it's a function of the land surface. Increased flooding is less likely in places where flood interventions are in place. It is more likely to act like a sponge when the land is dry. flash flooding is increasing in areas where humans have paved over the water. In places where the land is getting more wet, the soil doesn't have the ability to absorb rain. Sea-level rise is the main cause of ocean flooding.
The old aphorism that 'when it rains, it pours' is true in this situation. A lot of the complexity that's here is encapsulated by it. He calls it the extremeness threshold, because flooding isn't increasing everywhere. Extreme weather events are more likely to cause floods in places where atmospheric and surface conditions are perfect. The global health consequences will be different.
Scientists can use certain trends to predict how floods will affect public health. Njoki Mwarumba is an assistant professor of emergency management and disaster science at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Health and race can be predictors of how emergencies will affect a region. Who is most impacted and how will be determined by the extent of inequality. Mwarumba says that disasters don't create problems.
The warming planet is causing an increase in mosquito-borne diseases because they can now thrive in areas that used to be too cold for them. The spread of mosquito-borne illnesses will increase when there are more floods. Floodwaters are not always benign. There was a spike in flesh-eating infections after Hurricane Ian.
Disaster-hit areas get new diseases as responders from outside the region help. Mwarumba says that after the earthquake in Haiti, the UN spread the waterborne illness to locals. The United Nations has not accepted responsibility for the outbreak. The disease was absent before the UN arrived. Since then, there has been an outbreak of the disease every now and then. After the flooding caused by Matthew, there was a resurgence. Disease spread is likely to increase as a result of more frequent disasters.
Disaster scientists like Mwarumba know the trends and apply them to regions where flooding emergencies are likely to occur.
Disaster preparation and limiting the spread of disease can be done before a disaster happens. Brennan says the WHO works with countries. They figure out what disasters are most likely to happen. The medical system in the country needs to be robust and ready to manage people.
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Not all of the risks are predictable. According to the director of Drawdown Lift at Project Drawdown, a nonprofit organization that acts as a resource for information about climate solutions, long before disaster hits, countries can take broad steps that will have a big impact on their readiness. Fighting poverty is one of the steps involved.
Disaster relief can be impacted by solar power. If such a power system is connected off-grid to health centers that are built robustly to endure storms, this is even more of a problem. One solar-powered community never lost electricity when Hurricane Ian hit Florida.
She says that family planning, education and the reduction of poverty can have a big impact on a country's ability to weather a storm. The demographic in Pakistan was already compromised before the flood. Some of the worst health outcomes of disasters could be prevented if countries boosted food security, alleviated poverty and addressed water and Sanitation issues. Many of the solutions to these problems can be used to reduce emissions and fight climate change.
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