Pakistan expands efforts after floods kill over 200
BUNER, Pakistan
Rescue workers in northwestern Pakistan expanded relief operations yesterday after flash floods killed more than 220 people in a single district, officials said.
Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was struck by cloudbursts and torrential monsoon downpours on Aug. 15, triggering flash floods and landslides.
An emergency services spokesman in Buner, Mohammad Sohail, said more than half of the damaged roads in the district have been reopened, allowing vehicles and heavy machinery to reach isolated villages.
Crews are clearing piles of rocks and mud dumped by the floods. They were using heavy machinery on Sunday to remove the rubble of collapsed homes after families reported that some of their relatives were missing.
In one of the deadliest incidents, 24 people from one family died in the village of Qadar Nagar when floodwaters swept through their home on the eve of a wedding. The head of the family, Umar Khan, said he survived the floods because he was out of the house at the time. Four of his relatives have yet to be found, he added.
According to a government statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is monitoring the relief operations and has ordered faster distribution of aid, evacuation of stranded people, and intensified searches for the missing.
Pakistan's disaster management authority has warned of more deluges and possible landslides between Aug. 17 and 19, urging local administrations to remain on alert. Higher-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the country since June 26 and killed more than 600.
Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate-induced disasters. In 2022, a record-breaking monsoon killed nearly 1,700 people and destroyed millions of homes.
