Peshawar:
Rescuers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) districts were delighted by floods on Saturday, the sudden floods described by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 344 people in the province within 48 hours, officials said.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed that 324 deaths had been reported in KP, with dozens of other killed in Azad Jammu and Cachemire and Gilgit-Baltistan. At least 137 people were injured as the houses collapsed and torrents of water has won residents, livestock and vehicles.
Officials said the extent of the devastation forced the provincial government to declare six districts – Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Manshra and Battagram – a disaster. Thousands of houses have been destroyed and key roads, including bridges and liaison routes, have been carried away, complicating rescue and rescue operations.
“Strong precipitation, landslides and washed roads seriously hinder rescue efforts, in particular the transport of heavy machines and ambulances,” said Bilal Ahmed Faizi, spokesperson for the KP rescue agency.
“In some regions, workers are forced to travel long distances to reach disaster sites,” he said. “They try to evacuate the survivors, but very few people move due to the death of their loved ones or their loved ones in the debris.”
Biner district commissioner Kashif Qayum Khan also said that the rescuers had been forced to find new ways to reach remote areas. “Many more people can still be trapped under debris, which local residents cannot erase manually,” Khan told AFP.
Nearly 2,000 rescue staff were deployed, but officials warned that many victims could still be trapped under rubble in distant villages.
In the Shangla district alone, officials have confirmed 37 deaths, several people are still missing. Torrential floods, lightning blows and landslides have left hundreds of injured and flattened houses and displaced entire communities.
Eleven other people were killed in AJK and nine others in GB, officials said. Five others were killed when a local government helicopter crashed due to bad weather during a rescue mission in the Bajaur district on Friday.
The meteorological department has also published a strong rain alert for the northwest regions, urging people to take “precautionary measures”.
Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah of NDMA told AFP that this year’s monsoon season had started earlier than usual and should end later. This would also increase intensity over the next fortnight, he added.
In Biner, an AFP journalist saw three excavators release the completely flattened mud and wood from the site, while dozens of residents and residents also dug the debris.
Others have cleaned heavy rocks with their hands and with shovels. “People are always lying under the debris … Those who have been carried away are sought after downstream,” said Abdul Khan, a resident.
Crue waters have also destroyed cattle, shops and vehicles, while key roads, including Alpuri – Fisham, Alpuri – Puran and Alpuri – Chakesar, were seriously damaged. Although some were temporarily reopened on Saturday, access to remote areas remains cut.
The residents told the funeral that stood in devastated villages, where survivors continue to search through the rubble in hand. “I helped recover the bodies of the children I taught,” said Saifullah Khan, a Buner teacher. “The trauma is unbearable.”
Another villager from Buner said that AFP residents continued to look for through the rubble during the night.
“The whole area is in shock from a deep trauma,” said Saifullah Khan, a 32 -year -old teacher. “I help recover the bodies of the children I taught, I wonder what type of test nature imposed on these children,” he said.
The NDMA said that the torrential monsoon rains across Pakistan had killed more than 650 people so far this season, with 905 injured. The agency warned that the showers, which started earlier than usual this year, should continue with greater intensity during the next fifteen.
The monsoon floods in South Asia bring a large part of the region’s annual precipitation, vital for agriculture but devastating when they are extreme. Pakistan, among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has faced increasingly frequent and intense weather events. In 2022, floods overwhelmed a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people.
Provincial authorities have said that rescue operations were underway, heavy equipment being moved to erased roads and restore connectivity. The president of the PDMA went to Shangla on Saturday, urging those responsible to accelerate aid and rehabilitation.
On Sunday, the KP Minister -in -Chief is expected to visit the floods struck by the floods to examine damage and announce other measures.
The torrential rains that have struck Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as “unusual” by the authorities, killed more than 650 people, with more than 905 injured.
In July, Punjab recorded 73% more precipitation than the previous year and more deaths than throughout the previous monsoon.
Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change and presents itself with extreme weather events with an increasing frequency. The monsoon floods in 2022 overwhelmed a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people.
(With an additional contribution from agencies)
