Catastrophe scenario in northern Pakistan: sudden rain of monsoon killed nearly 200 people in 24 hours and a helicopter who came to the rescue crashed on Friday, killing five dead.
The country, the most populous fifth in the world, is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and, warn the authorities, the rains will further intensify for the next two weeks.
The 255 million Pakistanis have already undergone massive and murderous floods in recent years, explosions of glacial lakes and unpublished droughts, as many phenomena that will multiply under the influence of climate change, warn scientists.
In recent 24 hours, the deadliest torrential rains have taken place in various districts in the mountain province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, border of Afghanistan, which alone deplores 180 deaths.
‘I thought I would die’
‘My house is on a hill, near a stream. Around two or three in the morning, when it was raining strings, I heard a huge noise ‘, testifies to AFP Azizullah, a resident of the Buner district, who has dozens of deaths and injured.
‘I quickly went out with my wife and two children and, immediately, a torrent of water spilled and took everything in its path, I thought I was going to die, “he said.
In Buner, ‘a dozen villages have been severely affected by the waders’, report the authorities who identify dozens of houses and several damaged public schools and buildings.
In the village of Salarzai, in the district of Bajaur further west, dozens of inhabitants look at the excavators to dig the mud which has covered everything suddenly.
In the sky, a helicopter flies over which is now like a muddy river. There were clay houses, swept away by the mud flow.
Another helicopter, a Soviet mid -7, also had to bring food and rescue equipment. But ‘he crashed due to a bad weather’ before arriving in Bajaur, Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of the province reported.
‘The five crew members, including two pilots, died’, he added.
The Provincial Authority for the Management of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has declared ‘victims’ many districts where ‘rescue teams have been deployed in reinforcement’ to try to approach hamlets with accidental geography.
Nine other people died in the Pakistani cashmere, while in the cashmere administered by India, at least 60 victims were identified in a Himalayan village – and 80 others are still missing.
Finally, five people died in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, in the far north of Pakistan, which houses several of the highest peaks in the world.
Poor quality of structures
Since the start of a summer monsoon qualified as an unusual ‘by the authorities, 507 people, including a hundred children, have been killed, while 768 others have been injured.
The authorities detail that three -quarters of the victims were struck by sudden floods or collapse of houses, while 10% suffered electroctions or was struck down.
For Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, the national disaster management authority, ‘more than half of the victims died because of the poor quality of the structures’.
The authorities now recommend avoiding the country’s northern tourism, particularly popular in summer of mountaineers from around the world.
Because on the climate front, this year records records.
In July, the Pendjab, where almost half of the Pakistanis live, recorded precipitation 73% higher than those of the previous year.
During this month alone, the province identified more deaths than on the entire previous monsoon.
The monsoon brings 70 to 80% of annual precipitation in South Asia between June and September and is vital for the subsistence of millions of farmers in a region which has around two billion inhabitants.
But it can also cause devastating floods as in 2022, when torrential rains had affected nearly a third of the country causing some 1,700 deaths and loss of considerable harvests.
/ATS
