[Becky Anderson:] Against the odds, victims of flood-ravaged Pakistan struggle to survive, in what the U.N. calls one of the worst disasters the world has ever seen. Tonight, it's man against nature, as the race for a global warning system gets set to kick off in the United States. On CNN, this is the hour we connect the world. Well, it's a phenomenal mission, but will scientists really be able to predict the next great flood or the next great quake early enough to save lives? Well, that is the question that we're posing on this show this hour. I'm Becky Anderson in London for you. Then, it's one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Could the battle over its future provide a road map for future climate negotiations or is this a case of environmental bribery? From Ecuador, both sides of the story for you. And traffic, traffic and more traffic tonight, we spin the globe around a universal problem. And we'll tell you if it's likely to get any worse in your part of the world. What is it like where you live? What are the jams like? Tweet me. My address, atbeckycnn. That's my Twitter address. We'll use your comments as part of this show. First up this evening, catastrophic floods continue to upend millions of lives in Pakistan. Thousands of villages and homes have vanished in the high waters. The death toll is near 1,500. Those displaced, well, they run into the millions. And the crisis could get even worse, as the U.N. warns that three-and-a-half million kids are now at risk from water-borne diseases. Well, we're kicking off the top of this show with Sara Sidner, who takes us to a makeshift clinic where fragile lives hang in the balance.
[Sara Sidner, Cnn Correspondent:] Desperation unleashed on a dusty Pakistan road men, women and children dart out in traffic, hoping to grab a morsel of food randomly flying off local trucks. Nothing is wasted, even if there's a bit of earth mixed in. In each of the affected districts, victims of Pakistan's worst flood in decades are still fighting for survival two weeks after the initial flooding. Inside this makeshift clinic, smoldering heat punishes the senses. Lethargic babies croak out tears. Their exhausted parents try to comfort them. Dozens of families are piled on top of each other with nowhere else to go. "In the flood, everything is gone, nothing is left. We were only able to save our family," 50-year-old Baktawer says. "Our kids are vomiting. They have diarrhea. They are in miserable conditions. We don't have any money. The doctor is giving us treatment, but it's not effective." She is now left to comfort 25 members of her family, who all live in the same home washed away by raging monsoon floodwaters. In the next room, a painful sight a father gently holds his stick thin daughter. "I am worried about her," he says. "If it's God's will, nothing will happen to her. Every day, I'm buying 50 to 100 rupees worth of medicine, which is what I can afford, because I need to feed my whole family with the money I make as a laborer." Amir Mirani says one and a half-year-old Sabiya has been sick since birth. But since the floods, she's grown weaker by the day due to diarrhea and fever. [on camera]: She's so skinny. It's this is so dangerous for her. [voice-over]: "They advised me to given a IV drip, but I cannot afford it," he says. [on camera]: In this high school turned clinic directly after the floods, doctors say they were treating about 250 to 300 patients per day. They were overwhelmed. But now, they say, two weeks on, things are getting a little bit better. There are about 80 to 100 people who need help per day.
[Dr. Mohammad Yasin Arain, Camp Clinic Physician:] We are seeing a lot of water-borne diseases, mostly finding the water-borne disease such as malaria, gastroenteritis, mostly rheumatic fever. And most normally, we see skin diseases.
[Sidner:] Here, treatment is free. But not everyone appreciates the cure at this government-run are clinic. Still, with 24- hour access to government doctors, these families have more of a chance of survival than most, as aid agencies warn of potentially deadly outbreaks of diarrhea and cholera that tend to claim the weakest among the survivors. Sarah Sidner, CNN, Sukkur, Pakistan.
[Anderson:] Well, it's heart-rending stuff, isn't it? The U.S. Military is flying in aid to the region and other countries have contributed $150 million in relief so far. But aid groups warn more help is desperately needed. John Holmes is the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. He spoke earlier to CNN from New York about what the floods could mean for Pakistan in the long-term.
[John Holmes, U.n. Emergency Relief Coordinator:] I think it's a huge setback for for Pakistan's economy. And that's what the government have recognized very clearly. As you say, we can probably if the international community continues to respond and help the government deal with the immediate needs but then the early recovery part of it, helping the farmers get back on their feet, helping them plan for the next planting season, helping them have the seeds, fertilizers, tools, irrigation systems they need desperately to make sure there's food next year, that's a huge challenge. And then behind that, the massive, billion dollar challenges or billions of dollars challenges of all the lost infrastructure. And I think there's going to be a bigger challenge, actually, in the longer-term, getting the international community to help in a sustainable, long-term way in a country which has got so many problems. That's an even bigger challenge than getting the money for the the immediate humanitarian relief now.
[Anderson:] John Holmes from the U.N. there. Well, the disaster in Pakistan is hitting close to home for one of Britain's most famous athletes. Our Connector of the Day today, world champion boxer, Amir Khan, was born in the U.K., but he's got close ties to his Pakistani heritage. He here is what he says needs to be done now.
[Amir Khan, Connector Of The Day:] It's just really sad to hear that, you know, Pakistan has been hit by another disaster. Not long ago, they were hit by the earthquake. And when they started to rebuild their lives up again, then this has happened the flood has happened. But just how serious this is, you know, this is a very serious disaster. If you put the Haiti disaster, the tsunami disaster and the Pakistan earthquake disaster together, it's as bad.
[Anderson:] Amir Khan. And you're going to hear much more from him as our Connector of the Day later in the show. He's answering your questions and telling us more about what needs to be done in Pakistan. Well, the flood disaster unfolding there is happening at the same time merciless drought and wildfires are scorching Russia. This week, the world's leading climate scientists are gathering in the U.S. to try and establish an early warning system for extreme weather events like these. I'm joined now by Thomas Karl in Asheville, North Carolina. He's the transitional director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Services. And he he joins us now. Sir, we've seen the pictures on the you know, from Pakistan over the past couple of weeks, from Russia and other places coming into CNN Center over the past month or so. Are the floods in Pakistan, for example, and the heat wave in Russia connected?
[Thomas Karl, Noaa Climate Services:] Well, thanks, Becky. That's an excellent question. And certainly they're connected in the sense that the climate system is connected throughout the globe. But there are some unique features to those events that are worth pointing out. We don't understand all the aspects of what the causes of those events are, but I can give you some clues. One thing we know is that the extreme heat in Russia started because the normal flow of winds from west to east was curtailed for a very long period of time this year, all during the month of July and much of August. We had conditions where these normal flow of winds did not occur. And what happened was clear skies continued day after day and they dried out the soils. And temperatures became very warm in Russia. In fact, warmer than what we would expect in one in one thousand or, some even might say one in 10,000 years, if, indeed, the climate was not changing. Now, in Pakistan, we noticed that the heavy precipitation from monsoon rains didn't really begin until toward the end of July. And this was after the blocking of wind flow in Russia had already begun. So there's clearly some evidence that suggests there are some other causes going on. The one thing we know, the global system is connected. This is a year of a growing La Nina event. We have seen La Ninas in the past lead to heavy precipitation in Pakistan. This year, obviously, is far beyond what we've seen in the past. Similarly, the heat in Russia far beyond anything we've seen in the past. So maybe a third ingredient playing here, and that could be the changing atmospheric compensation, increases in greenhouse gases, changes in aerosol composition. This is the element that scientists are going to be looking at to try and come together...
[Anderson:] Right.
[Karl:] to see what we can do to better understand that world.
[Anderson:] All right, I get that. And this is the question that many people have been asking me, doesn't the severe cold weather this year across Siberia and much of South America turn on the head the idea that this extreme weather is the result of global warming, very briefly?
[Karl:] Well, actually, this past year, from January through July, the globe has been warmer than any other time on record. That does not mean some parts of the globe can be cold. And that's exactly what you're pointing out pockets of the globe were cold last winter. But overall, conditions are the warmest on record for this year to date.
[Anderson:] All right, let's talk about this this early global warning system that we talked about amongst you client climate scientologists in Boulder, Colorado starting tomorrow. Do we know enough about weather systems around the world to attempt a disaster warning system? And how would it work if we do?
[Karl:] Well, one of the things that we're actually trying to discover at this meeting is what are the concepts we can bring together. We've got an enormous amount of observing systems out there. Part of the difficulty that we have is predicting these very extreme events. And so the meeting the next two days out in Boulder is going to be to try to focus on what are those missing links that we have not been able to connect? How successful we are remains to be seen. This is the first start in a long effort at trying to have the international community put together the best observing systems we have in place, along with the best climate models, to try and provide this early warning indication.
[Anderson:] Thomas, we thank you for that. We'll find out from you at a later date how much this is going to cost and who's going to run it, as you move through the meeting. But for now, we thank you very much indeed for joining us, your expert on the subject today. We've been hearing from you about Pakistan and the floods on CNN.com. Someone who goes by the name of Influence says and I know that "The world is doing what it can. What is shocking is Pakistan's reported reluctance to accept aid from India." Stargazer43 tells us: "We might be able to turn the tide through kindness and generosity and make lifelong alliances with these people against the Taliban and al Qaeda." Just a couple of the comments. There's loads of them there. You can Tweet me atbeckycnn. Of course, you can write in at CNN.comconnect. Don't forget to let us know where you are writing from. It's good for us to know. All right, we're going to move on this hour. South Africa has one of the continent's most progressive attitudes toward press freedom, but for how long? Coming up, we're going to take a look at new proposals that some call the biggest threat to freedom of expression since apartheid.