Abdullah Abbas waded through the flooded streets of Lahore, fighting to push his motorcycle and deliver a food order in time. The water had risen to his chest, his jeans soaked and rolled on sandals, leaving him vulnerable to electrocution and infectious diseases.
“If I do not deliver orders, my account will be blocked, which would leave me without money,” Abbas told AFP in the old district of Lahore, known for its narrow and congestioned streets. “I need this money to pay for my high school fees,” added the 19 -year -old, who finished his last year of secondary school.
Since June, monsoon rains in Pakistan have killed more than 1,000 people, inflating major rivers and devastating rural communities along their banks. Urban centers such as Lahore, a city of more than 14 million people, and Karachi, the largest city in the country with more than 25 million people, also underwent urban floods due to poorly planned development.
Abbas earns about $ 7 a day, above the average salary, but only when the sun is shining.
To respond to the average monthly salary of around $ 140, he had to work seven days a week for more than 10 hours focused around his studies.
“Customers behave roughly and you have to manage all the stress,” added Muhammad Khan, a 23 -year -old runner, while he was carefully sailing on his motorcycle through karachi muddy muddy roads.
Pakistan, where 45% of people live below the poverty line, are one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources dedicated to adaptation.
In mid-August, Pakistan had already received 50% of monsoon precipitation more than last year, according to disastrous authorities, while in neighboring India, annual rains kill hundreds of hundreds each year.
While the seasonal monsoon of South Asia brings precipitation on which farmers depend, climate change makes the phenomenon more erratic.
A report by the Pakistan Human Rights Commission said Brown Water flooding the city streets is not only the result of climate change, but “obstructed drains, inadequate elimination of solid waste, poor infrastructure, encroachments, elitist housing companies”.
Doctors warn that work several times in wet conditions can cause fungal infections and flu, while exposure to dirty water can spread eye and skin infections.
Gig economics workers attached to delivery applications represented nearly two percent of Pakistan’s workforce – about half a million people – in 2023, according to Fairwork, a project from the University of Oxford.
Fairwork has evaluated six digital work platforms in the country and all have the “minimum standards of fair working conditions”. The international labor organization indicates that Gig workers have no government protection and are faced with systemic violations of international labor standards.
Motorcycle driver Muneer Ahmed, 38, said that he had stopped being a chef and joined a bicycle business to become “his own boss”.
“When it rains, customers try to take ricks or buses, which leaves me without work,” said Ahmed, while waiting anyway on the side of the flooded street. “The rain is a curse for the poor,” he said, looking at the screen of his phone for a new customer.
Daily wage workers, often working in construction, also see their work drying. It has been almost four days since worker Zahid Masih, 44, was hired, he told AFP when he took refuge in a bridge with other masons in Karachi.
“The jobs are coming, but only after stopping the rain. There is no work as long as it rains,” said the father of three children. “Sits inactive at home is not an option, because our stoves will not be turned on.”
