As Climate Heats Up, Is Pakistan Cooling Down Its Response?

News Desk

Islamabad: Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab, Irfan Ali Kathiya, has said that Pakistan is increasingly experiencing severe and unpredictable weather patterns due to the intensifying effects of climate change.

Speaking to a private news channel, Kathiya stated that although rain and thunderstorms had been forecast in Punjab, the scale and severity of the recent weather events had exceeded expectations.

“Tragically, 18 people have lost their lives and more than 110 sustained injuries,” he said, attributing nearly 80 percent of the damage to the collapse of improperly installed solar panels. He urged citizens to ensure the proper installation of solar panels to avoid such fatal incidents in the future.

Kathiya highlighted that while global temperatures are rising by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius, Pakistan is witnessing abrupt increases of 4 to 5 degrees, resulting in frequent and hazardous heatwaves.

Calling for urgent action, he emphasized the need for comprehensive measures to mitigate rising temperatures. “We must promote large-scale tree plantations and implement stronger controls on unregulated urban expansion to manage escalating heat risks,” he added.

The DG PDMA underscored the pressing need for climate adaptation strategies to minimize the human and economic toll of extreme weather events.