Peshawar:
A flooding of biblical proportions hit landscape areas such as monsoon rains, skyback and landslides that caused destruction and claimed more than 200 lives in just 24 hours, reported officials on Friday – a disaster survivor compared to ‘doomsday’.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) carried the head of the disaster on the apocalyptic scale with the buner district in the storm. The whole community was swept off their feet, home torn, and whole families lost with a moment.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a gloomy update late on Friday night and confirmed 194 fatal accidents nationwide. Of these, 180 were registered in KP, nine in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and five in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region.
Among the victims were at least 19 women and 17 children, with most deaths as a result of collapsed houses and the sudden, punishing wave of flash river, NDMA said. Dozens of other people were reported wounded throughout the province.
However, consignments from our correspondents in different areas of KP suggested a cumulative death toll of 214 in the province, so far – 157 in the Buner district alone. Some media report also set higher death tolls of 10 in GB and 19 in AJK.
Buner appeared as the hardest hit, with KP chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah confirming 100 deaths. The Deputy Commissioner declared flooding emergency situations in the subdivision of Daggar, Gadezai, Gagra, Mandanr and Chagharzai as rescue teams fought against time and furious waters to save lives.
The human costs of disaster are enormous, with upset stories of survival and loss coming out of the wreck.
“I heard a loud noise as if the mountain was slipping. I rushed out and saw the whole area shaking. I thought it was doomsday,” Buner-Resident Azizullah said.
In the tribal district of Bajaur brought a cloudburst and lightning strikes around midnight in the village of Jabrai, Salarzai Tehsil, a skyback and lightning strike around midnight in the village of Jabrai. Four houses were torn, killed 21 people and injured five others.
Rescue teams, courageous treacherous conditions, have got most of the victims, though two remain missed. The tragedy was exacerbated by the fact that the whole families were lost; The deceased included eight members of a family and five members each from two other families.
AFP photos from the stage caught the dark reality: a crowd gathered around an excavator that digs through a mud soft hill, while nearby burial beans were held in a paddock in several bodies covered with blankets.
Bajaur -Vice Commissioner Shahid Ali confirmed that 19 organs had been recovered. Rescue efforts were severely hampered by fast -flowing water, rising river levels and landslides that blocked road access for heavy machinery.
At the Mansehra-Battagram border, a cloud of the village of the village of Dheri Haleem Neelban in the Shimlai area in one of the deadliest single events. More than 25 deaths have been confirmed after lightning and flash floods destroyed 10 houses and wash them into the furious Nandhar stream.
Sixteen bodies, including women and children, have been recovered from different stains along the current, with search operations that continue for the missing. Most of the deceased is reported to be from the same family.
The wider mansehra district witnessed more tragedy. In Balakot’s Nala Khareeela Bassi, a car was swept away and killed two residents. In Khairabad, a house of collapses claimed a mother and her young daughter.
The Shangla district rolls from flash floods and lightning strikes that have swept more than 20 people, with many still missing and over 50 wounded. In a heartbreaking incident, seven members of the same family perished.
The infrastructure has been decimated home, shops and even cemeteries damaged. The most important Alpuri-Bisham Highway was washed away in two locations and cut off access to many areas. The district was thrown into the dark after over 35 main strength towers were damaged.
Tehsil Puran is reported to be the worst affected area with sites such as Kozpau, Alloch and Choga submerged for the first time in memory. In Mansehra, police saved seven tourists caught by heavy rain at Lake Samahk Sar. In Swat, rescuers saved six people stranded in the Swat River.
National response mobilized
In response to the escalating crisis, the KP government declared the seriously affected mountainous districts in Buner, Bajaur, Mansehra and Battagtram as disaster areas and announced on Saturday as a mourning day.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened an emergency meeting to undergo the flood situation where he was informed by NDMA chairman LT Gen Inam Haider Malik. He instructed NDMA to use all available resources to support the KP government in relief and rescue efforts.
NDMA actively coordinates a massive reaction involving PDMA, Pakistan Army, District Administration and Rescue 1122. Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir issued special instructions for rehabilitation of flood -affected people in KP.
According to security sources, the army chief said the troops who were deployed in KP would extend full assistance to rehabilitation of flood -affected people. In this regard, additional military quotas were also sent.
They further stated that the army chief instructed Corps of Engineers to carry out bridge repair work as soon as possible and install temporary bridges where needed. The Army rescue sniffing dog unit was also sent for search and rescue operations.
In addition, a special city search and rescue team had also been deployed on the army chief’s orders, confirmed the sources, adding that army helicopters and the army aviation assets had already been deployed to rehabilitation of flood-affected people.
The Pakistani Army has donated a day’s salary and awarded a day’s ration – equivalent to over 600 tonnes – to aid support from the flooded people in KP. “The Pakistani army stands shoulder to shoulder with the brave people in KP at every moment of suffering,” a source said.
More rain forecast
The test in KP is far from past. Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted more rain for Saturday (today), with heavy falls expected in Upper KP, Potohar region and Kashmir region.
Authorities warned that further rain could cause more floods in local streams and rivers and trigger additional landslides in the vulnerable hilly areas of KP, GB, Murree and AJK. A PDMA official noticed that this year’s Monsun season began earlier and is expected to end later. “The next 15 days … The intensity of the monsoon will exacerbate further,” he warned.
Elsewhere, heavy rain also paralyzed infrastructure in GB, where landslide blocked the decisive Jaglot-Skardu road on four separate points. National Highway Authority (NHA) has implemented teams for approval operations that are monitored around the clock.
Authorities have called on the public to remain vigilant, avoid rivers and streams and refrain from unnecessary journey. In particular, tourists have been advised not to visit northern regions in the next five to six days such as Pakistan Seles for more rain, while taking care of a devastating loss of life.
PM order instant relief, rescue operation
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held an emergency meeting on Friday to review the flood situation in the country because of the recent rain.
Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik oriented the Prime Minister about the damage caused by cloudbursts and flash floods in the top parts of the country and about the rescue and relief operation.
The Prime Minister ordered NDMA to continue his cooperation with the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to provide them with all the support of the rescue and relief operation by using all the available resources.
He instructed the chairman NDMA to improve coordination with the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for rescue and relief activities.
Tents, medicines, foods and other relief materials must be delivered to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government immediately, he said that the addition of emergency relief articles should be sent through trucks prioritized.
He ordered people and tourists stranded in flooded affected areas to be immediately led to safer places.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister was informed of the development of rescue and relief operations along with an assessment of the damage.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister held a telephone conversation with Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi and chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur.
He said that NDMA has been instructed to provide all possible help to the provincial government for rescue and relief operations.
“The federal government will provide all help to the provincial government,” he noted.
He told the minister of chief that the federal government sent medicine, tents and foods.
“Our sympathy is with the victims in this difficult time,” he added.
(With input from agencies)
