Floods Hit Pakistan

Another disaster in a disaster prone area.

This is a disaster of Biblical proportions. About one fifth of the entire country of Pakistan is effectively under water. This is a country of approximately 300 million people and 134,051 square miles. That comes out to about 26,000 sq miles of flooded territory. Farmland, cities, and infrastructure has been completely overwhelmed by the flood waters.

I have to agree with other reviewers who have claimed that the international response has been tepid at best. The United States should have been leading the way here, as we did in 2005 when a strong earthquake hit the Kashmir region of the country. We already have a major military base in the country with the capability to handle disaster relief operations of this nature. Instead, the US government has only offered tepid support. Geopolitics is seemingly playing a role in this: the Chinese are taking advantage of this situation to ingratiate themselves with the Pakistani government by offering generous aid packages, much to the ire of US officials whose long term objective is to block Chinese influence in the area. The areas most affected include the Baluchistan province near the border of Iran, where China has an interest in developing a new oil pipeline and tanker port on the Indian Ocean. The United States has made attempts over the past few years to block these developments via. support for separatist movements which hinder the completion of these projects.

The United States meanwhile has seen its popularity drop in Pakistan since the Obama Administration took over due to their sanctioned drone attacks in the Northern provinces that have destabilized the region.

The immediate risk now is the potential rise of violence and extremism throughout the country, which was already coming to a boiling point before the floods. This could very well lead to the country's worst security crisis in its history, one that could potentially destabilize the country. leading to civil war. The areas most impacted by the floods are in the poorest areas of the country, where the extremists and separatist movements (especially in Baluchistan) operate. Islamic charities, many which are associated with radical movements, have been able to mobilize more effectively in these areas than the central government, thus undermining its support in these areas.

This is not only a humanitarian disaster, but it is also a political and economic one. The government is overwhelmed by the logistics of getting aid to the countryside. The final bill for the clean up efforts have already reached into the billions and will only continue to grow in the next few months and even years. These are usually the type of events that lead to negative political outcomes in weak states like this, so forthcoming events here bear very close watching.

These have been devastating, affecting over 14 million people. A few thousand were killed in the initial floods, but many more are likely to die from starvation or disease in the next months due to the destruction of cropland and livestock. I'm not seeing the same concern I saw for Haiti, at least not in North America. Granted, the immediate death toll was far higher in Haiti, and it was in the continental backyard, and the victims weren't Muslims in a country with rather dubious "friendship" to North American interests (not that religion and geo-politics should be a factor when considering humanitarianism) but the virtual silence is getting a little embarrassing.

Right down to the fact that it took a European to suggest this item.

Holy shit, real news. Of course, we're likely not to hear much about it until some asshole in a pulpit says that they had it coming.

I'm not really shocked that this hasn't really made big news in America, but I'm completely shocked at the lack of aid and assistance this country has not been given globally. If you ask me these people have been ignored more than any other country that's faced devestation and I hate to say, but you have to question was it due to the fact that Pakistan sided with Iran by "justifying" their reasons for having nuclear weapons when most countries were against it? Or maybe people are still exercising their prejudice and disdain for Muslims and have turned their head the other way. Feel sorry for Barack Obama because he's damned if he does do something and damned if he doesn't. As for Cameron and Clegg helping....no further comment necessary.