Pakistani authorities are on high alert after warning of a heat wave, torrential rain and flooding due to the melting of the glacier lake (Gluve) next week.
This came in a warning issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Authority within a week of the first heat wave during which a city in the southern province of Sindh recorded a temperature of 49 degrees Celsius. “It is likely that daily temperatures will remain six to nine degrees above normal,” the authority said.
“High temperatures and heavy monsoon rains are expected this year,” Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said on Saturday. Floods and heavy rains can pose a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of citizens as well as public infrastructure.”
The Meteorological Authority also warned the authorities, today, Saturday, that high temperatures could raise the rate of ice melt, and thus lead to the flooding of the glacial lake in the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The ministry said it had asked the national, regional and local authorities to take precautionary measures to deal with all possible catastrophic events.
It is noteworthy that Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of global carbon emissions, yet it is among the ten countries most affected by climate change.
In recent years, floods, land erosion, rainstorms, droughts and smog have increased in Pakistan, which result in poor quality air.
Climate experts say this is a result of global warming, but it is also due to the country’s proximity to two major industrialized nations, China and India.
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