Recent floods in India and Pakistan offer an opportunity for peace building conversations and collaboration in rebuilding the two nations. Both the Pakistani and Indian sides have been severely affected by the increase in flow in the Southern Asiatic Rivers. Records indicate that these floods have not been matched for at least 50 years. Casualties include 300 dead and 2.3 million affected by the raging waters. In 2010, floods of the same nature were named “the worst humanitarian disaster of its time” by the United Nations. In response to the floods, youth from both India and Pakistan joined together to create a plan for shared risks and vulnerabilities. They aim to combat increased climate change caused disasters like these floods. The efforts of these young Pakistani and Indian people have started dialogue between both country’s’ politicians on the mutual need for infrastructure in climate action. Because of their specific geographical location, climate change demands to be managed.The kinds of infrastructure being called for in dialogue between youth and politicians are a basic forecasting system and a disaster management organization. UN reports that the United States has pledge $250,000 dollars to aid the flood relief. In other solidarity efforts, Saleem Baig, Convener of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) said, “We could not stop the floods, but we could have certainly mitigated the damage to a very large extent. They were not flash floods. With modern technology, we could have predicted the water levels and gave concrete alerts to people,"In the past, due to drama between both countries, combined efforts have been futile. However, now with two new prime ministers, the youth and other conglomerates of the countries seek to persuade their governments of the increasing need for collaboration. These floods are not all bad. They may have in fact provided an opportunity for a tension ceasefire in India and Pakistan.
Writer: Morgynne Tora ~ Multimedia Journalist
