Pakistan monsoon death toll hits 117 in 24 hours

AFP :

At least 117 people have died in monsoon rains in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, disaster authorities said Friday.

The majority of the deaths, 110, were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the province’s Disaster Management Authority.

Seven more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, regional disaster management authorities said A cloudburst washed away several houses in northwestern Bajaur district, killing 18 people and stranding several others, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s disaster authority told AFP.

The meteorological department has also issued a heavy rain alert for the northwest, urging people to avoid “unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas”.

The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but it also brings destruction.

The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as “unusual” by authorities, have killed more than 320 people, nearly half of them children.

Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing houses, flash floods and electrocutions.

In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan’s 255 million people, recorded 73 percent more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon.

Landslides and flash floods are common during the monsoon season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.

But scientists say climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent. In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its residents are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.