As many parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh face floods, drought continues to affect large swathes of Pakistan and some areas of India. In a cruel irony, parts of India that were hit by drought until the end of August are now expected to be flooded mere weeks later.

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reconfirmed that such erratic weather patterns, tied to an increasingly unpredictable monsoon cycle, bear the hallmark of climate change.

India’s latest flood situation report, published on 14 September and compiled by the non-profit Sphere India, counts over 3.8 million people affected over eight states. Eight people have died and 11,769 are in 142 relief camps, while 322 houses have been damaged.

In Bangladesh, flooding occurred in both the  Brahmaputra and Ganga basins.

The drought in Pakistan eased a little after showers in the first half of September in the affected provinces – Sindh and Baluchistan. Water levels in reservoirs are still low.

India’s Drought Early Warning System (DEWS) revealed 21.06% of India faced drought and groundwater irrigates most of the breadbasket.

Nepal’s capital Kathmandu received 121.5mm of rainfall on 7 September – the third-highest in the past two decades. The authority says that this year, 115 people have already died due to floods and landslides, 40 are missing and over 100 injured. Worsened by badly planned development while Kathmandu’s built-up area has quadrupled, and buildings are encroaching on floodplains of rivers.

Source: VNExpress