An ocean of muddy water, as far as the eye can see: this is what much of Pakistan looks like today, literally under water, especially in the southern province of Sind, around Karachi. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says these are the worst floods in 30 years, even worse than those of 2010 that have remained in Pakistani memory.
Of the 220 million inhabitants of the country, more than 30 million are affected, ie one inhabitant in seven. At least one million houses have been destroyed and the death toll of 1,060 is likely to increase. Especially since the Indus River threatens to burst its banks. Rescue operations are very difficult to carry out since there is no possible landing zone in these totally flooded regions.
For the Pakistani public authorities, the link with global warming is beyond doubt. These torrential rains have actually lasted for more than two months. These record floods are due both to a monsoon of very high intensity, and also to the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas which causes rivers to overflow. This will probably not get better in the years to come: Pakistan is considered one of the eight countries in the world most exposed to extreme weather phenomena.
The other Asian giant, China, is on the other hand in the grip of an unprecedented drought. The country has just experienced two months of a historic heat wave, the worst for 60 years, therefore in reality the worst since the existence of reliable weather records in the country. Half of the country is affected, from the mountainous region of Tibet to the coastal areas in the east of the country, the economic heart of China. Here again, the images are spectacular, but in a different genre: cracked soils, dry lakes, rivers reduced to a trickle of water. The famous Yangtze River is at its lowest. The temperature reached 45 degrees in August in some cities.
The main consequences are of two kinds, first, on the crops of corn, rice, soybeans, crops which require a lot of water; then on the production of electricity, which depends a lot in China on hydraulic energy. Several cities have already implemented electricity rationing, restrictions on public lighting. Some car manufacturing plants are closed until further notice. And there again, as in Pakistan, this is probably only the beginning: the lack of water promises to be a glaring problem in China in the years to come.
It is in fact all of Asia which has just experienced a catastrophic summer, even worse than Europe. We could multiply the examples: the lack of water is also blatant in Central Asia, for example in a country like Tajikistan. While in the Far East, Japan experienced record temperatures at the start of the summer after an unprecedentedly short rainy season. And there too, it was necessary to occasionally ration electricity. This climatic situation in Asia can have ripple effects for the entire planet. For example, if China, for lack of sufficient harvests, has to import rice and soya, the entire world food market will be destabilized.