Pakistan is predicted to experience higher rainfall this month, which could heighten the risk of additional flooding and landslides amid the rising death toll.
A warning from the National Disaster Management Authority was issued on Sunday in Islamabad after recent flash floods claimed several lives across Pakistan and India, the news agency Bloomberg reported, citing officials.
The death toll from the current floods have touched 337, according to Nayyab Shah, NDMA’s general manager for risk assessment, who was quoted at the press briefing on Sunday.
The northern mountain regions, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have been among the most severely affected. Additionally, NDMA expects above-normal rainfall for southern Pakistan.
“The current monsoon pattern is opposite to the traditional ones due to the climate change and this is going to be getting worse in future,” Shah said. “Western and eastern disturbances are expected to cause more cloud bursts in coming days,” he added.
1,000 feared to be dead
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Information on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Affairs, Ikhtiar Wali Khan, noted that as many as 1,000 people may have died amid recent flash floods in the region, ANI reported, citing regional media.
Wali stated that he had personally visited the flood-affected regions and observed extensive destruction. “Entire villages have been wiped out. In Buner’s Chagharzi area, massive destruction has taken place, while the village of Bashoni has completely disappeared from the map,” he was quoted in the report.
“Some of the rocks carried by the floodwaters were bigger than trucks. Houses along the riverbanks have vanished without a trace, and whole families have been swept away with no one to even report them,” Wali added.
He noted that the official figures only show the bodies brought to hospitals, which is nearly 300 so far; however, many more casualties remain unreported.
Calling the situation a human tragedy, he warned that in Dir alone, the death toll could surpass 1,000, with over a thousand more people still missing, the news agency added.
“Mass burials are taking place”, he said. “I have returned from Buner with a heavy heart after witnessing this disaster with my own eyes.”
The NDMA said the casualties were caused by torrential monsoon rains, flash floods, and related hazards, adding that it was coordinating with provincial authorities to intensify relief and rescue operations in the worst-hit areas.
Death toll
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reports that since June 26, at least 657 people, including 392 men, have died from rain-related incidents across the country, and 929 others have been injured, the report said.
Out of all the fatalities, 171 were children and 94 were women. Among those injured, there were 437 men, 256 children, and 236 women.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province experienced the highest toll, with 390 deaths—comprising 288 men, 59 children, and 43 women. Additionally, KP reported 245 injuries: 161 men, 45 children, and 39 women, it added.
(With inputs from agencies.)
