The Language of Disaster: Analyzing Water Metaphors in Coverage of Pakistan’s 2022 Floods

Abstract

One of the natural disasters that took place in recent times was the 2022 floods in Pakistan. Millions of the population were displaced, entire communities relocated, and the economic and infrastructure damage was extensive. The media is significant in making the disaster appear big and human, and the vocabulary they use, including metaphors, assists in creating the image of the disaster in the minds of the people. This paper examines the language that has been employed as a metaphor to discuss the subject of water in the news and in documentaries on the floods. Reading through a swarm of local and foreign media texts, we discovered the patterns: water, monster, a weapon, a victim, and an uncontrollable natural force. We break down the role of these metaphors in terms of the way they make the story, how they arouse emotions, and how they make people think about the responsibility. The findings indicate that metaphors do not just dramatize the floods but are also an indicator of cultural attitudes towards nature, catastrophe, and the vulnerability of human beings. By highlighting alert language in media coverage, the paper contributes to the study of environmental communication and the analysis of metaphor.