Monsoon After Monsoon, KP drowns in Neglect

Inayah Khattak

Peshawar/Islamabad: Amidst the monsoon season, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has once again turned into the most affected province. As the rain falls down, the lack of strong infrastructure and weak disaster planning is making things worse. The price, as always, is being paid by people.

Even though the province has been suffering from floods for years now, there is still no efficient water management system, or effective rules around construction in risky areas. As a result, communities remain vulnerable and unprepared.

The monsoon death toll has gone up in just the past 10 days. KP has reported more than 29 deaths, dozens of injuries, and serious damages to the infrastructure, particularly in commercial and tourism areas.

Pakistan Meteorological Department has issued warnings of more rains throughout July. Even with these warnings, damage persists because the systems needed to protect people are either missing or improperly maintained.

Tourism or Tragedy

KP is one of the tourism hubs of Pakistan, known for beautiful places like Swat, Kalam, and Chitral. Locals thrive in money as it comes in through hotels, transport, and food services. But, they are also in the direct path of natural disasters. Rivers and mountains draw tourists, but they are also destroying roads, bridges, hotels, and villages.

Floods not only stop tourism, but they wipe out entire local economies. Reportedly, in Mohmand district, heavy rains swept away livestock and crops overnight. Kandia Tehsil and nearby areas are now cut off due to the damaged roads connecting them to other areas.  Electricity blackouts have made the crisis worse. Families are unable to travel, goods can’t be transported, and being a mountainous terrain, access to help and rescue is slow and limited.

This is a consistent phenomenon. In 2022, a similar flood took over 300 lives in KP, and thousands were displaced. Several areas were faced with food shortages, waterborne diseases, and long-term income loss. Government logged data showed that KP alone faced damages of around Rs. 245 billion, Rs. 25 billion lost in the Swat tourism revenue only.

Yet here we are again. Not much has changed, but why?

Climate Change is Ignored

Worsening floods can, and should be, linked to climate change. With the rising global temperatures, the weather patterns are messy, causing more extreme, unpredictable, and destructive rainfalls.

Due to glaciers melting at a high rate, flash floods are becoming more common. In areas like KP, where the planning is weak, normal rain can also turn deadly.

Pakistan is one of the least contributors with 1% addition to the global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it still ranks fifth in the world when talked about countries most at risk due to climate change. In simpler terms, the country suffers more than it causes, and KP is one of the most vulnerable areas.

A retired Geography professor from University of Peshawar, Dr. Iffat Tabassum, explained to APP that the location of Pakistan makes it highly climate-sensitive. “With the coasts, mountains, and plains, Pakistan has all of which face different kinds of climate threats.”

“Cyclones in the south, glaciers melt in the north, and heatwaves attack the center,” she said. “We do not have enough facilities like dams to store water. Hence, the effect hits us harder.”

Laws Exist, Not Followed

Building near rivers is illegal, yet people still do it because of weak enforcement of the law. A climate activist and a consultant at Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED), Fatima Faraz, claims that many government decisions are not researched thoroughly. “In dry areas,” she elaborated, “the government planted eucalyptus trees. The trees absorb water, making things worse.”

Poor planning, lack of research, and weak law enforcement, shows how unprepared the country is to face the climate crisis. Rather than just reactive reliefs, long-term planning and better building code, strong law enforcement, and community level education, are essential demands to avoid repeated tragedies every year.

Once the water settles, the survivors are forgotten. These flood survivors need more than just compensation, they require jobs, homes, and financial assistance that prevents them from getting stuck in poverty after losing everything.

Balancing the Future

If the concerned authorities do not act quickly, Pakistan, especially KP’s economy, environment, and people will continue to suffer as the climate change takes a worse toll. The damage appears to be just physical, but it is deeply emotional, economic, and long-term.

It is not an option anymore, to build flood resistant infrastructures, better drainage, and enforced construction laws, but a necessity. KP is now standing at a crossroad where one leads to the never-ending wave of unpredictable disasters, and the other leads to a better province.

The future depends on the decision we make, and the responsibility to make decisions is not only limited to one person, or organization. Every entity, including the government, communities, and individuals, must come together for the future depends on all of us.