Pakistan defends flood response after over 270 people killed
In Kishtwar district, search teams are still scouring the remote village of Chositi, where floods during an annual Hindu pilgrimage last week killed at least 60 people and injured 150 others. More than 300 others were rescued, but dozens remain missing.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, officials defended their emergency response as the death toll from flash floods in the mountainous Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province climbed past 270.
Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service, said 54 bodies had been recovered from Buner after intense rains and cloudbursts triggered devastating torrents Friday.
He said rescue efforts were ongoing, with teams focusing on homes flattened by rocks and water rushing down from the mountains.
Authorities warned of continued rainfall and potential landslides through Tuesday, as monsoon deluges since June 26 have already killed over 600 people across Pakistan.Local residents accused officials of failing to issue timely evacuation alerts. Many said no warnings were broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a common method of communication in remote areas.The government maintained that early warning systems were in place but that the cloudburst over Buner was too sudden and intense to provide sufficient lead time.Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, chairman of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, told reporters that climate change is disrupting traditional weather patterns. He noted that Pakistan has received 50% more rainfall than the same period last year.Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said, 'There is no forecasting system anywhere in the world that can predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst.'Mohammad Iqbal, a schoolteacher in Pir Baba village, said more lives could have been saved if warnings had been issued earlier. 'Survivors escaped with nothing,' he said.In Qadar Nagar, one of the hardest-hit villages, 24 members of a single family died when floodwaters swept away their home on the eve of a wedding. The family's head, Umar Khan, said he survived only because he was away from home at the time. Four relatives remain missing.Emergency teams reported that over half of Buner's damaged roads had been reopened by Sunday, allowing crews to reach previously cut-off areas. Heavy machinery is still being used to dig through the rubble of collapsed homes in search of survivors.Pakistan, which produces less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, remains one of the countries most vulnerable to climate-induced disasters.In 2022, record monsoon flooding killed nearly 1,700 people and destroyed millions of homes. Experts warn that climate change is fueling more frequent and extreme weather events across South Asia, including glacial lake outbursts, deadly heatwaves, and now cloudbursts.
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