Floods and landslides in Indian Kashmir kill 60, over 100 missing
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Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan defends flood response after over 270 people killed in northwestern district
BUNER, Pakistan: Torrential rains triggered more flash floods in two villages in the Kathua district of Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least seven people and injuring five others overnight, officials said Sunday. 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 last week. At least 60 were killed and some 150 injured, about 50 of them critically. In Pakistan, authorities on Sunday defended their response to climate-induced flash floods that killed more than 270 people in a single northwestern district. Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency service, said 54 bodies were found after hours-long efforts in Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where torrential rains and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday. Similar cloudburst have also caused devastations in the Indian-administered Kashmir. Suhail said several villagers remain missing, and search efforts are focused on areas where homes were flattened by torrents of water that swept down from the mountains, carrying massive boulders that smashed into houses like explosions. Authorities have warned of more deluges and possible landslides between now and Tuesday, urging local administrations to remain on alert. Higher-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the country since June 26 and killed more than 600. More intense weather to come? Residents in Buner have accused officials of failing to warn them to evacuate after torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered deadly flooding and landslides. There was no warning broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a traditional method in remote areas. The government said that while an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour in Buner was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be alerted. Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, told a hastily convened news conference in Islamabad that Pakistan was experiencing shifting weather patterns because of climate change. Since the monsoon season began in June, Pakistan has already received 50 percent more rainfall than in the same period last year, he added. He warned that more intense weather could follow, with heavy rains forecast to continue this month. Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said there was 'no forecasting system anywhere in the world' that could predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst. Mohammad Iqbal, a schoolteacher in Pir Baba village, said the lack of a timely warning system caused casualties and forced many to flee their homes at the last moment. 'Survivors escaped with nothing,' he said. 'If people had been informed earlier, lives could have been saved and residents could have moved to safer places.' People still missing Idrees Mahsud, a disaster management official, said Pakistan's early warning system used satellite imagery and meteorological data to send alerts to local authorities. These were shared through the media and community leaders. He said monsoon rains that once only swelled rivers now also triggered urban flooding. An emergency services spokesman in Buner, Mohammad Sohail, said more than half the damaged roads in the district had reopened by Sunday, allowing vehicles and heavy machinery to reach cut-off villages. Crews were clearing piles of rocks and mud dumped by the floods. They were still using heavy machinery 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. Extreme weather events 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. Khalid Khan, a weather expert, said Pakistan produces less than 1 percent of planet-warming emissions but faces heatwaves, heavy rains, glacial outburst floods and now cloudbursts, underscoring how climate change is devastating communities within hours. Thursday's floods struck during an annual Hindu pilgrimage. Authorities rescued over 300 people, while some 4,000 pilgrims were evacuated to safety.
Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan to compensate survivors for losses after floods kill 312 in northwest since Aug. 15
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province will compensate survivors of this week's deadly floods, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced on Sunday, urging residents of disaster-prone areas to relocate from there. Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc in Pakistan's northern areas, especially its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, where floods and landslides have killed over 312 people since Aug. 15, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The cumulative death toll from rain-related incidents in Pakistan, which ranks among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has surged to 645 since Jun. 26. Apart from KP, 164 deaths have been reported in Punjab, 29 in Balochistan, 14 in Azad Kashmir, eight in Islamabad, and 28 each in Gilgit-Baltistan and Sindh. Raging hill torrents flattened several homes and swept away dozens of people and in KP's Swat, Buner, Bajaur, Torghar, Mansehra, Shangla and Battagram districts on Friday. Officials says around 54 bodies were found on Sunday in the worst-hit Buner district where cloudbursts triggered massive flooding. 'The data of all the losses is being compiled,' CM Gandapur told reporters in Buner. 'It is beyond our power to compensate the loss of lives, but we will compensate financial losses, damages to private property.' Residents in Buner have accused officials of failing to warn them to evacuate after torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered deadly flooding and landslides. Mohammad Iqbal, a schoolteacher in Pir Baba village, said the lack of a timely warning system caused casualties and forced many to flee their homes at the last moment. 'Survivors escaped with nothing,' he said. 'If people had been informed earlier, lives could have been saved and residents could have moved to safer places.' The government said that while an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour in Buner was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be alerted. Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said there was 'no forecasting system anywhere in the world' that could predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst. Several people are still missing and search efforts are focused on areas where homes were flattened by water torrents that swept down from the mountains, carrying massive boulders that smashed into houses like explosions. Authorities have warned of more deluges and possible landslides till Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, CM Gandapur vowed the government infrastructure relating to health, water, road or education would be fully restored. He, however, noted that some of the villages were located in such areas where any calamities like cloudbursts and floods could hit any time. 'So, we want to resettle residents of those small villages at another place and we will build houses for them, but they should evacuate these dangerous areas,' Gandapur said.
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Hopes for survivors wane as landslides, flooding bury Pakistan villages
BUNER: Pakistani rescuers dug homes out from under massive boulders on Sunday as they searched for survivors of flash floods that killed at least 344 people, with more than 150 still missing. Since Thursday, torrential rains across the country have caused flooding, rising waters and landslides that have swept away entire villages and left many residents trapped in the rubble. Most of the deaths, 317, were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where monsoon rains that are only expected to intensify in the days ahead drove flooding and landslides that collapsed houses. More than 150 people are missing in hardest-hit Buner district, where at least 208 people were killed and '10 to 12 entire villages' were partially buried, officials told AFP. 'They could be trapped under the rubble of their homes or swept away by floodwaters,' said Asfandyar Khattak, head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Provincial Disaster Management Authority. 'Separately, in Shangla district, dozens of people are also reported missing,' Khattak added. 'There is no electricity or mobile signal in Buner, as power lines and mobile towers were damaged,' he added. The spokesman for the province's rescue agency told AFP that around 2,000 rescue workers were involved across nine districts, where rain was still hampering efforts. 'The operation to rescue people trapped under debris is ongoing,' said Bilal Ahmad Faizi. 'The chances of those buried under the debris surviving are very slim,' he added. AFP journalists in Buner saw half-buried vehicles and belongings lying strewn in the sludge, with mud covering houses and shops. A grave digger, Qaiser Ali Shah, told AFP he dug 29 burial places in the last two days. 'I have also dug six graves for children. With each grave, it felt as though I was digging it for my own child,' he told AFP. 'For the first time, my body simply refused to carry me through. That's why today I apologized and said I cannot do this work anymore.' Flooded roads hampered the movement of rescue vehicles, as a few villagers worked to cut fallen trees to clear the way after the water receded. 'Our belongings are scattered, ruined and are in bad shape,' shopkeeper Noor Muhammad told AFP as he used a shovel to remove mud. 'The shops have been destroyed along with everything else. Even the little money people had has been washed away,' he added. The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra and Battagram as disaster-hit areas. 'We were trapped in our homes and could not get out,' another Buner resident, Syed Wahab Bacha, told AFP. 'Our entire poor community has been affected... This road was our only path, and it too has been washed away,' he added. On Saturday, hundreds gathered for mass funerals, where bodies wrapped in blood-stained white shawls were laid out on the village ground. Fallen trees and straw debris were scattered across nearby fields, while residents shovelled mud out of their homes. Pakistan's meteorological department has forecast 'torrential rains' with monsoon activity 'likely to intensify' from Sunday onwards. The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but also brings destruction. 'The intensity of this year's monsoon is around 50 to 60 percent more than last year,' said Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, chairman of the national disaster agency. 'Two to three more monsoon spells are expected until the first weeks of September,' he told journalists in Islamabad. Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September. The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon have killed more than 650 people, with more than 920 injured. Pakistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change and is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency. Monsoon floods in 2022 submerged a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people. Another villager in Buner told AFP on Saturday that residents had spent the night searching through the rubble of their former homes. 'The entire area is reeling from profound trauma,' said 32-year-old schoolteacher Saifullah Khan. 'I helped retrieve the bodies of the children I taught. I keep wondering what kind of trial nature has imposed on these kids,' he said.
