Islamabad — Mohenjo-millennia-old daro’s clay walls have borne quiet witness to innumerable floods in the Indus River valley over the centuries, but officials believe this year’s terrible monsoon season could destroy the site. The majority of the remains in the flooded southern province of Sindh date back approximately 4,500 years. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of South Asia’s most well-preserved ancient urban communities.
Now, a catastrophe for which scientists think the contemporary, developed world is largely to blame is destroying millions of lives in Pakistan and causing damage to its archaeological heritage.
Mohenjo-daro was found in 1922, but the loss of the civilisation that once flourished there, which corresponded with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, remains a mystery. Since the cryptic alphabet employed by the residents of the city-state has never been decoded, nothing is known about their beliefs and practices.
Mohenjo Daro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the southern Sindh region of Pakistan, has been damaged by severe rains that have inundated much of the country on September 6, 2022. Fareed Khan/AP
Wednesday, the death toll from the monsoon floods that has submerged an estimated third of Pakistan was 1,325, including 466 children. The disaster has affected around 33 million Americans. Now, officials report that Mohenjo-daro is a victim as well, with heavy rainfall already inflicting substantial damage to the site.
Retrieving the “Pile of the Dead”
This week, the site’s curator, Ahsan Abbasi, told The Associated Press that a number of large walls constructed about 5,000 years ago have crumbled due to monsoon rainfall.
Under the supervision of archaeologists, he stated that dozens of construction workers had already began repair work. However, conservation activities in certain areas of the monument were halted while officials awaited the receding floodwaters.
Abbasi did not estimate the cost of repairing the devastation at Mohenjo-daro, nor did he state if all of the anticipated damage to the ruins could be repaired.
A man walks at Mohenjo-daro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the southern Sindh province of Pakistan, on September 6, 2022, after excessive rainfall in the region damaged portions of the site’s remains. Fareed Khan/AP
He stated that the site’s “Buddhist stupa,” a massive hemispherical building linked with prayer, meditation, and burial, remained intact. However, the downpours have ruined some of the outside walls as well as some of the bigger walls separating rooms or chambers within the ruinous maze.
Ironically, the ancient civilisation at Mohenjo-daro, also known as “Mound of the Dead” in the local Sindhi language, constructed an intricate drainage system that has been crucial in preventing flooding in the past.
Villagers left destitute and stranded
While this year’s floods have affected nearly the entirety of Pakistan, Sindh province has been among the most severely affected.
Tuesday, Pakistani Army engineers rushed to create a second breach in an embankment along the swelling Lake Manchar, Pakistan’s largest freshwater lake, in order to relieve the strain of rapidly rising water and save the nearby city of Sehwan from serious floods.
Sitting on a tractor to traverse a flooded area in Sehwan, Sindh province, southern Pakistan, on August 31, 2022, are displaced individuals who escaped flood-affected districts. AKRAM SHAHID/AFP/Getty
The lake’s water has already flooded dozens of adjacent towns, forcing hundreds of families to abandon their mud-brick homes in a rush, with many only carrying the clothing on their backs.
Troops and volunteers continue to use helicopters and boats to reach thousands of stranded individuals in flooded areas and transport them to relief centers. Tens of thousands of people have already sought refuge in the camps, and many more have chosen high ground wherever they can, crowding key roads with homemade tents.
Ghulam Sabir, a 52-year-old resident of the outskirts of Sehwan, stated on Tuesday that he and his family evacuated their home three days ago in response to a government order.
“I brought my family with me and came to this… safer place,” Sabir told the Associated Press as he stood next to the roadside where he has built his tent. He mirrored the accusations of a number of other trapped locals, who said that no government assistance was reaching them.
Children whose families were displaced by flooding sit in a tent by the side of a road in Shikarpur, Sindh province, Pakistan, on August 30, 2022. ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty
Sabir stated that he had no idea if his home was still standing.
Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif has appealed to Pakistanis at home and abroad to donate to flood relief operations, and he has intensified his calls for more emergency aid from the international community.
Calls for “climate justice”
Sharif and other Pakistani officials have frequently stated that at least a portion of the record magnitude of this year’s monsoon floods is attributable to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions primarily from wealthy nations.
Hina Jllani, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), stated in a press release issued on Tuesday that, in light of the devastating floods, the Commission was joining calls for the international community — and especially the countries that emit the most carbon dioxide — to pay Pakistan immediate reparations for the damage caused to the Earth’s atmosphere.
While the government’s relief and rebuilding efforts for the flood-affected districts have left “much to be desired,” according to the HRCP, “it is evident that Pakistan is paying the price for a tragedy that was preventable and, more crucially, not of its own making.”
The Commission cited data from both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank indicating that Pakistan’s historical contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions was less than 0.5 percent. Nevertheless, the country’s terrain and infrastructure make it “one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world.”
The death toll from Pakistan’s flooding has surpassed 1,000, and officials have declared a “climate catastrophe” 01:50
“The disparity demonstrates that all nations must work together to develop not only climate-change solutions, but also climate justice policies that prioritize the values of equity and accountability,” stated the HRCP. Climate change compensation is the absolute least for which world leaders must be held accountable.
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, accused Swedish politicians of neglecting the climate catastrophe, citing the Pakistan floods as “a very clear example” of the dangers of “totally focusing on other things.”
She told the news agency Reuters that politicians and the media “chose not to communicate that so many of the crises we are experiencing right now are interconnected.”
01:13 Scientists warn the world must prepare for “climate endgame” hazards.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the globe this week to avoid “sleepwalking” through the climate crisis.
Later this week, Guterres was scheduled to visit flood-affected districts in Pakistan. Pakistani officials stated that he will fly to Sindh, although it was unclear whether the U.N. leader would visit Mohenjo-daro to observe the rescue efforts for the archaeological monument.
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