At the COP27 summit, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif encouraged Western nations to provide financial assistance to less developed, more vulnerable nations like his that were severely affected by climate change. Months after Pakistan’s terrible floods, millions of people remain homeless, and thousands of schools and hospitals were destroyed. The Pakistani government estimates that the cost of rebuilding has reached more than $30 billion. The floods caused more than 1,700 deaths, and two million homes were either damaged or destroyed, making the human cost far higher.

Hanifa lost her son and is one of the millions of homeless individuals. She claims that Abdul Wahab, the family’s breadwinner and the father of six children, “saved us by losing his life.” Abdul went back into their house after they evacuated to get something but never came back, according to Hanifa. Another survivor, Najma, hopes to one day become a doctor, but she is concerned that day may never arrive because her school was sunk by the flood. “I am worried my education has been wasted. “I want to continue my studies and complete my secondary education,” she says. In the meantime, Abdul Qayoom’s 100-year residence has been left in ruins. At the end of August, flash floods wreaked havoc on his home in the dry Balochistan province of Hana Urak, which is generally more vulnerable to drought than rain.