Pakistan is once again in the grip of a highly destructive annual weather cycle. Unusually heavy monsoon rains have caused widespread death and destruction across the country, with over 200 dead and hundreds more injured across the country. Torrential downpour has caused landslides, structural collapses, electrocutions and dislocated large swathes of population in Punjab, KP, Sindh and Balochistan.
Since late June, extreme weather has battered vast swathes of the country. According to data released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), children account for half of the fatalities. Punjab has reported the heaviest toll with 123 deaths, followed by 40 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 21 in Sindh and 16 in Balochistan. Of the total deaths, 118 resulted from collapsing buildings, 30 from flash floods, and the rest from drowning, electrocution, lightning strikes, and landslides. The human toll has been compounded by a massive disruption of the infrastructure, power supply and transport networks.
Rawalpindi was submerged by flash floods that surged through streets and residential areas. Faisalabad recorded 11 deaths and 60 injuries over two days, mostly linked to structural collapses. In Chakwal, more than 32 roads were reportedly washed away after rainfall exceeded 450mm, crippling transport and emergency response systems. The overflowing River Soan breached a dam, flooding entire villages in the district and parts of Jhelum and the surrounding areas. Communication lines and electricity remain disrupted across several affected regions, exacerbating the impact on already distressed communities. Emergency teams are struggling to reach remote villages that have been cut off due to washed-away roads and landslides.
According to the disaster management authorities, the intensity of the monsoons this year is 60pc to 70pc higher than as compared to last year. The authorities are now warning of at least four more heavy monsoon spells before the end of August. Pakistan is faced with the rising risk of glacier lake outburst floods in the mountainous regions of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where melting ice masses threaten sudden surges downstream.
A UN News report has described the recent deluge as yet another reminder of Pakistan’s susceptibility to climate-induced disasters. “Pakistan regularly experiences monsoon-related flooding from June to September, leading to fatalities, infrastructure losses, and displacement, particularly in areas with poor drainage and high population density,” the report said. According to the UN report the unfolding crisis – rising rivers, forecasts of further downpours, fragile rural homes collapsing and transport links severed – has revived stark memories of the catastrophic 2022 floods that submerged a third of the country and affected more than 33 million people.
Experts have warned that Pakistan is likely to experience more frequent and severe floods due to extreme rainfall events and human-induced development encroaching on floodplains in the coming days. Flooding risks in Pakistan could increase dramatically under a high-emission scenario, with intense rainfall events. In the given circumstances, Pakistan has to focus more on climate change adaptation techniques to mitigate these risks, such as restoring natural floodplains, improving drainage, and shifting development away from riverbanks. Local emission reduction measures combined with smarter land planning can reduce damage and save more lives. To reduce the rainfall-induced direct flooding in targeted areas, there is an urgent need to fix and upgrade drainage systems in both cities and rural areas to mitigate its impact.
But ascribing the rain damage to climate change alone is only part of the story. There is little doubt that the damage from the recent floods could have been controlled and minimised had the administration taken preemptive measures on time. Despite early warnings of heavy rains from the disaster management agencies, the provincial and district authorities failed to prepare themselves adequately and make arrangements to mitigate the severity of the crisis when it occurred. Faulty urban planning and poor governance only exacerbated the situation.
Learning from the current crisis we should develop new short and long term plans to deal with urban flooding and improve disaster management and emergency response systems. To this end more resources will have to be allocated to meet the requirements for climate adaptation and resilience to tackle extreme weather events. Without further delay the authorities concerned with the help of experts should develop a comprehensive climate adaptation strategy embracing a clutch of measures to overcome both structural vulnerabilities and institutional inefficiencies that result in unnecessary loss of life and property
In this context, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority and the National Disaster Management Authority need to work more closely with local authorities in the disaster-prone areas to deal with any rain emergency in real time. We could learn a lot from Bangladesh which has institutionalised anticipatory remedial action in cyclone and flood-prone districts, linking it to provincial and national disaster management agencies, health supply chains and forecast-based triggers.