CNA Correspondent - Tackling Pakistan's Triple Threat
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CNA
9 hours ago
- CNA
More than 150 missing in flood-hit northwest Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: More than 150 people are missing in northwest Pakistan, the head of the provincial disaster authority said on Sunday (Aug 17), after flash floods that have killed at least 344 people in the country. Thousands of rescuers were battling rain and knee-deep mud, digging homes out from under massive boulders in a desperate search for survivors. "In Buner, at least 150 people are still missing. They could be trapped under the rubble of their homes or swept away by floodwaters," Asfandyar Khattak, head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Provincial Disaster Management Authority, told AFP. "Separately, in Shangla district, dozens of people are also reported missing," he added. The ongoing rain was making rescue operations extremely difficult, Khattak said. "There is no electricity or mobile signal in Buner, as power lines and mobile towers were damaged in the flash floods," he added. In the hardest-hit Buner district, at least 208 people were killed and "10 to 12 entire villages" partially buried, a provincial rescue spokesman told AFP. "The operation to rescue people trapped under debris is ongoing," said Bilal Ahmed Faizi of the province's rescue agency. He said around 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations across nine districts, where rain was still hampering efforts.
CNA
11 hours ago
- CNA
Northern China flash flood kills at least 8, state media reports
BEIJING: At least eight people have died in a flash flood in northern China, state media reported on Sunday, with four others still missing, as the East Asian monsoon continues to unleash atmospheric chaos across the world's second-largest economy. The banks of a river running through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia burst at around 10 pm on Saturday, the report said, washing away 13 campers on the outskirts of Bayannur city, a major agricultural hub. One person has been rescued. China has suffered weeks of extreme weather since July, battered by heavier-than-usual downpours with the monsoon stalling over its north and south. Weather experts link the shifting pattern to climate change, testing officials as flash floods displace thousands and threaten billions of dollars in economic losses. Bayannur is an important national grain and oil production base, as well as a sheep breeding and processing center. At the other end of the country, a three-and-a-half-month fishing suspension in the southern province of Hainan ended on Saturday, state media reported, after agricultural affairs officials ordered ships to shelter in port owing to persistent, heavy rain. The deluge in Inner Mongolia follows a deadly downpour in Beijing - just under 1,000km away - late last month which killed at least 44 people and forced the evacuation of more than 70,000 residents. The central government announced last week 430 million yuan ($59.9 million) in fresh funding for disaster relief, taking the total allocated since April to at least 5.8 billion yuan.
CNA
a day ago
- CNA
Pakistan rescuers recover bodies after monsoon rains kill over 340
Peshawar, PAKISTAN: Rescuers struggled to retrieve bodies from muddy debris on Saturday after flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across northern Pakistan killed at least 344 people in the past 48 hours, authorities said. The majority of deaths, 324, were reported in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, while at least 137 others were injured. One resident told AFP it felt like "the end of the world" as the ground shook with the force of the water. The provincial rescue agency told AFP that around 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine affected districts where rain was still hampering efforts. "Heavy rainfall, landslides in several areas, and washed-out roads are causing significant challenges in delivering aid, particularly in transporting heavy machinery and ambulances," Bilal Ahmed Faizi, spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's rescue agency, told AFP. He said road closures meant rescue workers had to walk to some of the disaster sites in remote regions. "They are trying to evacuate survivors, but very few people are relocating due to the deaths of their relatives or loved ones being trapped in the debris" Faizi said. Buner district deputy commissioner Kashif Qayum Khan also said rescuers were forced to find new ways to reach remote areas. "Many more people may still be trapped under the debris, which local residents cannot clear manually," Khan told AFP. The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra and Battagram as disaster-hit areas. The meteorological department has issued a heavy rain alert for Pakistan's northwest for the next few hours, urging people to take "precautionary measures". Eleven more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and another nine in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, national officials said. Five more were killed when a local government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a relief mission on Friday. 'Profound trauma' The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction. Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September. Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, a representative of the national disaster agency, told AFP that this year's monsoon season began earlier than usual and was expected to end later. It would also increase in intensity over the next fortnight, he said. In Buner district, where there have been dozens of deaths and injuries, resident Azizullah said he "thought it was doomsday". "I heard a loud noise as if the mountain was sliding," he told AFP. "The ground was trembling due to the force of the water, and it felt like death was staring me in the face." An AFP journalist saw three excavators clearing mud and wood from the completely flattened site, while dozens of rescuers and residents also dug through the debris. "My daughter's dowry worth around five hundred thousand rupees (US$1,760) was washed away in the flood," resident Abdul Hayat told AFP. "We don't even have clothes to wear, the food was also swept away," he said. Others cleared heavy rocks with their hands and with shovels. "People are still lying under the debris... Those who were swept away are being searched for downstream," said resident Abdul Khan. In picturesque Swat district, an AFP photographer saw roads submerged in muddy water, downed electricity poles and vehicles half-buried in mud. The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as "unusual" by authorities, have killed more than 650 people, with more than 905 injured. In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 255 million people, recorded 73 per cent more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon. Pakistan is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its population 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 locals kept on searching through the rubble throughout the night. "The entire area is reeling from profound trauma," 32-year-old local schoolteacher Saifullah Khan told AFP.
