Pakistan expands rescue and relief efforts after floods kill over 200 in a single district
Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was struck by cloudbursts and torrential monsoon downpours on Friday, triggering flash floods and landslides.
An emergency services spokesman in Buner, Mohammad Sohail, said more than half of the damaged roads in the district have been reopened, allowing vehicles and heavy machinery to reach isolated villages.
Crews are clearing piles of rocks and mud dumped by the floods. They were using heavy machinery on Sunday to remove the rubble of collapsed homes after families reported that some of their relatives were missing.
In one of the deadliest incidents, 24 people from one family died in the village of Qadar Nagar when floodwaters swept through their home on the eve of a wedding. The head of the family, Umar Khan, said he survived the floods because he was out of the house at the time. Four of his relatives have yet to be found, he added.
Provincial chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur visited Buner on Saturday and announced that families of the dead will receive payments of 2 million rupees ($7,200) each. He said tents, food, and clean drinking water are being provided to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
According to a government statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is monitoring the relief operations and has ordered faster distribution of aid, evacuation of stranded people, and intensified searches for the missing.
Pakistan's disaster management authority has warned of more deluges and possible landslides between Aug. 17 and 19, urging local administrations to remain on alert. Higher-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the country since June 26 and killed more than 600.
Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters. In 2022, a record-breaking monsoon killed nearly 1,700 people and destroyed millions of homes.
The country also suffers regular flash floods and landslides during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September, particularly in the rugged northwest, where villages are often perched on steep slopes and riverbanks.
Experts say climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of such extreme weather events in South Asia.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, torrential rains triggered flash floods in two villages in Kathua district that killed at least seven people and injured five overnight, officials said. Rescue and relief operations are underway.
In Kishtwar district, teams are continuing their efforts in the remote village of Chositi, looking for dozens of missing people after the area was hit by flash floods three days earlier. At least 60 were killed and some 150 injured, about 50 in critical condition, in the disaster.
Thursday's floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage. Authorities rescued over 300 people, while some 4,000 pilgrims were evacuated to safety.
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BAYSHONAI KALAY, Pakistan, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Aziz Ahmed, a local schoolteacher in Buner, northwestern Pakistan said the thunder accompanying recent torrential rains was so loud he thought the "end of the world had come". Water, rocks and trees were swept down the mountainside after two days of intense monsoon rains, burying people and homes in their path. 'You can say that those who survived have gone mad,' said Ahmed, pointing to a house where just one family member still lived. By Sunday morning, the death toll from the rains across the mountainous north of Pakistan had risen to at least 337 people, with most killed in flash floods, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. In Buner, a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital Islamabad, 207 lives were lost and others are still missing. Officials said that Buner was hit by a cloudburst, a rare phenomenon where more than 100 mm (4 inches) of rain falls within an hour in a small area. In Buner, there was more than 150 mm of rain within an hour on Friday morning. Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, who leads risk assessment at the authority, said that global warming had changed the pattern of the annual monsoon, pushing it around 100 km west of its normal path. More heavy rain was expected across Pakistan until early September, officials said. Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who visited Buner on Sunday, vowed to rebuild infrastructure, compensate victims, and move those living in dangerous places to homes in safer spots. 'We can't bring back the dead, but what we can do, I pledge will be carried out,' said Gandapur. In the remote village of Bayshonai Kalay, the smell of rotting corpses hung in the air on Sunday, as locals waited for heavy machinery to arrive to remove debris. Muhammad Sher said that five houses had existed immediately around where he was standing, with some 30 homes lost in total. He said that some 40 of the villagers' bodies had been found, including his cousin's, which had been washed around two kilometers away. 'This was a natural disaster which came and wiped out our entire village," Sher said. "Some people were taken away, some were saved, and there was a lot of chaos."
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Pakistan expands rescue efforts after floods kill more than 200 in one district
Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was struck by cloudbursts and torrential monsoon downpours on Friday, triggering flash floods and landslides. An emergency services spokesman in Buner, Mohammad Sohail, said more than half of the damaged roads in the district have been reopened, allowing vehicles and heavy machinery to reach isolated villages. Crews are clearing piles of rocks and mud dumped by the floods. They were using heavy machinery on Sunday to remove the rubble of collapsed homes after families reported that some of their relatives were missing. In one of the deadliest incidents, 24 people from one family died in the village of Qadar Nagar when floodwaters swept through their home on the eve of a wedding. The head of the family, Umar Khan, said he survived the floods because he was out of the house at the time. Four of his relatives have yet to be found, he added. Provincial chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur visited Buner on Saturday and announced that families of the dead will receive payments of two million rupees (£5,300) each. He said tents, food, and clean drinking water are being provided to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases. According to a government statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is monitoring the relief operations and has ordered faster distribution of aid, evacuation of stranded people, and intensified searches for the missing. Pakistan's disaster management authority has warned of more deluges and possible landslides between August 17-19, urging local administrations to remain on alert. Higher-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the country since June 26 and killed more than 600. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters. In 2022, a record-breaking monsoon killed nearly 1,700 people and destroyed millions of homes. The country also suffers regular flash floods and landslides during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September, particularly in the rugged northwest, where villages are often perched on steep slopes and riverbanks. Experts say climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of such extreme weather events in South Asia. In Indian-controlled Kashmir, torrential rains triggered flash floods in two villages in Kathua district that killed at least seven people and injured five overnight, officials said. Rescue and relief operations are under way. In Kishtwar district, teams are continuing their efforts in the remote village of Chositi, looking for dozens of missing people after the area was hit by flash floods three days earlier. At least 60 were killed and some 150 injured, about 50 in critical condition, in the disaster. Thursday's floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage. Authorities rescued over 300 people, while some 4,000 pilgrims were evacuated to safety.
