By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: At least 45 people have been killed and 105 others injured in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since heavy rains began pummeling the region on March 25, authorities said Sunday, as collapsing roofs and walls turned monsoon downpours into a deadly hazard across dozens of districts.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority released its latest tally as rescue teams continued pulling victims from the rubble of mud-and-brick homes weakened by weeks of unrelenting rain. Among the dead were 23 children, 17 men and five women; the injured included 45 men, 16 women and 44 children, the authority said. A total of 442 houses were damaged — 382 partially and 60 completely destroyed.
The toll spanned more than two dozen districts, from the provincial capital of Peshawar and the tribal areas of North and South Waziristan to the mountainous valleys of Swat, Upper Dir and Shangla, as well as Bannu, Abbottabad, Mardan, Bajaur, Hangu, Mohmand, Kohat, Kurram, Lakki Marwat, Battagram, Lower Kohistan, Mansehra, Torghar, Charsadda, Buner, Malakand, Lower Dir, Orakzai, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank.
The authority said it was coordinating with Rescue 1122 emergency services and local administrations to rush relief supplies to the affected areas. “District administrations and Rescue 1122 remain in close coordination to accelerate relief activities and provide immediate assistance to victims,” the PDMA director general said in a statement. As recovery efforts continued, the Pakistan Meteorological Department warned that a new weather system — a western disturbance moving in from the west — was expected to bring another round of widespread rain, windstorms and thunderstorms from Sunday evening through April 9.
Isolated heavy downpours, hail and lightning were forecast, with the heaviest impact likely in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Islamabad and parts of Balochistan. The meteorological department cautioned that the fresh rains could trigger flash floods in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northeast Balochistan and Kashmir between April 6 and 8, and urban flooding in major cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala and Sialkot. Landslides were possible in the mountainous regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, potentially cutting off roads and isolating communities. Strong winds and hail also posed risks to weak structures and standing crops.
The authority urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel, particularly in vulnerable tourist areas, and to heed official advisories. Its Emergency Operations Centre remained fully operational, with citizens encouraged to report emergencies or seek updates through the toll-free helpline 1700.
The latest deaths pushed Pakistan’s nationwide rain-related toll since last month to at least 83. In addition to the 45 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, authorities in Sindh province reported 27 deaths, most of them in the southern port city of Karachi. Balochistan recorded nine fatalities and Punjab two, according to provincial figures compiled Sunday.
Pakistan, long ranked among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has faced increasingly erratic and extreme weather in recent years. Devastating floods in 2022 killed more than 1,700 people and affected over 33 million, while last year’s monsoon season claimed more than 1,000 lives in another round of widespread inundation. The pattern has repeatedly exposed shortcomings in the country’s infrastructure and disaster preparedness, particularly in rural areas where homes are often built with traditional materials ill-suited to prolonged heavy rain.
PDMA officials said relief operations would continue even as the new storm system approached, with supplies already dispatched to the hardest-hit districts.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
