People make their way through a flooded area following heavy rains in Karachi, Pakistan on 24 August 2022. Photo: Shahzaib Akber / EPA 24 August 2022.

Pakistan struggles to avert danger as floods rise, death toll tops 1,300 – More than 400,000 pregnant women in Sindh province displaced by floods, only 891 have reached relief camps

By Syed Raza Hassan and Asif Shahzad 5 September 2022 ISLAMABAD/KARACHI (Reuters) – Pakistani authorities are struggling to prevent the country’s biggest lake bursting its banks and inundating nearby towns after unprecedented flooding, while the disaster management agency on Monday raised its toll of flood deaths by another 24. Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers […]

Children use rafts to make their way along a waterlogged street in a residential area after a heavy monsoon rainfall in Hyderabad on 24 August 2022. Record monsoon rains were causing a “catastrophe of epic scale”, Pakistan's Climate Change Minister said August 24, announcing an international appeal for help in dealing with floods that have killed more than 800 people since June 2022. Photo: Akram SHAHID / AFP

Sleepwalking to destruction: World struck by relentless climate catastrophes – “We just would not get temperatures as high as we’ve seen without human-caused climate change”

By Nick O’Malley 3 September 2022 (The Sydney Morning Herald) – Authorities are having difficulties finding the words to properly capture the devastation caused by the floods that have swept across Pakistan in recent days, killing more than 1400 people and displacing up to 50 million as water inundates about a third of the country. […]

Local residents cross a portion of road destroyed by floodwaters in Kalam Valley in northern Pakistan, Sunday, 4 September 2022. More than 1,300 people have died and millions have lost their homes in flooding caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan this year that many experts have blamed on climate change. Photo: Sherin Zada / AP Photo

Pakistan floods villages to save a city – Damage estimated at $10 billion – “The scale of devastation is massive and requires an immense humanitarian response for 33 million people”

By Zarar Khan 4 September 2022 ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistani engineers cut into an embankment for one of the country’s largest lakes on Sunday to release rising waters in the hopes of saving a nearby city and town from flooding as officials predicted more monsoon rain was on the way for the country’s already devastated […]

Men haul loads through floodwaters in a flooded village in Matiari, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Photo: Asad Zaidi / UNICEF

More than 6.4 million in dire need after unprecedented floods in Pakistan – 1.1 million houses washed away – “18,000 schools have been destroyed and thousands of schools are now fully shuttered”

2 September 2022 (UN) – The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is unprecedented, with a third of the country under water, UN humanitarians warned on Friday. With more than 33 million people impacted, that represents 15 per cent of the total Pakistani population, said Dr. Palitha Mahipala, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in […]

A firefighting vehicle rolls through the burn zone of the Route fire near Castaic, California in August 2022. Photo: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Headlines for 3 September 2022 – China warns of “severe” threat to harvest after hottest summer on record – Dry pastures force Texas ranchers to slaughter ever more cows

3 September 2022 (Desdemona Despair) – The terrible summer of 2022 has overwhelmed Desdemona’s ability to track the climate disasters that are multiplying around the world. There’s no reason to expect the rate of environmental catastrophe to slow, so Des has decided that automation is necessary to keep this blog relevant and current. The idea […]

Data captured by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus satellite on 30 August 2022 was used to map the extent of flooding currently devastating Pakistan. Photo: ESA

Satellite images show one third of Pakistan underwater – “This is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. In 22 years of my experience as a humanitarian aid worker, I never saw such destruction caused by floods.”

By Lizzy Davies 1 September 2022 (The Guardian) – Aid workers have appealed for urgent donations to fight the “absolutely devastating” impact of flooding in Pakistan, as new satellite images appeared to confirm that a third of the country is now underwater. As the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched an appeal to raise funds for the 33 million […]

A rare earth mine near the Chinese border owned by a company that has no permits. On paper, Sin Kyaing Company is owned by a local militia leader named Lagwi Bawm Lang. But like other Burmese companies in the rare earth mining industry, it is really a front for illegal investment by Chinese businesspeople. Photo: Global Witness

New evidence shows massive and rapid expansion of illicit rare earths industry in Myanmar – “China has effectively offshored this toxic industry to Myanmar over the past few years, with terrible consequences for local communities and the environment”

9 August 2022 (Global Witness) – Myanmar has seen a rapid expansion of illegal mining of heavy rare earth minerals, used in green energy technologies, smartphones and home electronics, with the industry fuelling human rights abuses, environmental destruction and funding local militias linked to the brutal military regime, our new investigation reveals today. Our report shows that […]

Mehrum coal-fired power plant in Germany, with wind turbines. On 1 August 2022, the coal power station in Mehrum was the first to be reactivated. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / DPA / Picture Alliance

Germany’s energy U-turn: Coal instead of gas – “What must not happen is that we slide into a global renaissance of fossil energy, and coal in particular”

By Sabine Kinkartz 4 August 2022 (DW) – Starting this week, German hard coal-fired power stations are restarting operations, which were being phased out because of the hugely detrimental climate impact on a world already ravaged by global warming. Germany’s goal had been to phase out all coal-generated electricity by 2038. But now, the government is swallowing the […]

An aerial photo taken on 8 July 2022 shows the widespread destruction of a wheat field near Siversk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Fires in dry wheat fields can easily be sparked by explosions or the red-hot fragments of artillery shrapnel. Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP

Ukrainian wheat burns as global food crisis looms – Ukrainian wheat farmers struggle to harvest their crop as Russian artillery pounds fields

19 July 2022 (U.S. Wheat Associates) – As an export market development organization, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) represents the interests of U.S. wheat farmers in overseas markets. We are happy to compete fairly with wheat farmers in other countries on the basis of functional quality and value. Yet, working for these hard-working farm families also gives us […]

A delivery boy with an electric cycle wades through a flooded street due to heavy rainfall in Mumbai, India, 5 July 2022. Photo: Getty Images

Red alert issued in Mumbai as city records 70 percent of July rainfall in just six days – 8 killed in floods during Hindu pilgrimage in Kashmir

By Stuti Mishra 8 July 2022 (The Independent) – A red alert has been issued for Mumbai as the densely populated metropolis has received 70 per cent of its average July rainfall in just the first six days of the month. Mumbai usually receives an average annual rainfall of 2,205mm, over four times the amount […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial