Hundreds of killed in a few days in rain -related incidents

Nestled among the lush green mountains in northern Pakistan, and with a river flowing calmly through its center, Bishnoi was, until recently, a beautiful village.

But it had rained a lot on the morning of Friday August 15, and when the villagers woke up early and left to work, they did not know how quickly things were about to change.

According to the inhabitants, a sudden torrent of water came through Bishnoi, “bringing huge rocks with it and crushing the buildings on its way, destroying the whole village”.

When the BBC Ourdou went the next day, the area was dotted with large stones, concrete blocks and uprooted trees. Without heavy machines, the rescuers and the inhabitants were busy cleaning the debris using small tools.

“There is a house under each stone. People try to look under these rocks to see if they can find someone,” said Israr Khan Local. “The houses are buried under the ground.”

In the wider province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, at least 314 people were killed and 156 injured due to rains and sudden floods that started between Thursday and Friday evening.

Biner’s district, where Bishnoi is, is the most affected, with 217 deaths, according to the province of Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

Another room said that many people had been killed in a house where wedding preparations were underway. Others told us that there had been a total of 80 to 90 households in Bishnoi, most of them involved in agriculture.

It is estimated that 50% of the houses were completely destroyed in the flood. The others are no longer habitable.

The monsoon rains between June and September offer approximately three -quarters of the annual precipitation of South Asia. The landslides and the floods are common and 650 people have already died during the season of this year.

In Pakistan, at least 507 people died and more than 700 were injured in rain -related incidents since the start of the monsoon at the end of June, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

Punjab and some parts of Islamabad are among the areas that have been beaten by strong showers and sudden floods this year. But none was struck stronger than the mountainous North of Pakistan, which houses Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one of the most glacial areas in the region.

Global warming means that these glaciers decrease and withdraw quickly, which in turn makes debris such as rocks, soil and other materials more vulnerable to be dislodged. And although the exact cause of recent floods and landslides is not yet determined, glaciologists say that the melting of ice is a contributing factor.

Government forecasters warned that high precipitation he expected until August 21 in the North West, where several areas have been declared disaster areas.

In the Swat Valley, less than 100 km from Buner, a school director saved nearly 900 flood students.

“It was exactly 9:00 am when I had a last glance at the stream and it was going to burst its banks due to continuous rains,” said Saeed Ahmad, 59, to Anadolu de press.

Mr. Ahmad ordered an immediate evacuation, and within 15 minutes, all the teachers and children had left – a few moments before the rage of flood waters crossed the school, taking half of the building, its boundary walls and its playgrounds.

Sarwar Khan, a local advisor, said that “this timely action by the director has saved 900 lives”.

Others have not been lucky. Abdul Salam, who lives in Punjab, told the BBC Urdu as he realized that his wife, two daughters and his son had perhaps been taken in Swat Valley floods.

“I started composing numbers on my mobile phone like crazy, but I couldn’t get in touch with my wife and children,” he said. All four have drowned.

Meanwhile, in Biner, Asrar Khan said that 27 people in his village were still missing.

When asked how the disaster took place, he took a deep inspiration.

“Everything happened before my eyes,” he said-and explained that even him and others had managed to save certain people, “the water was so strong that it had no mercy for anyone”.

The crops were flattened on both sides of the road on the journey towards the Bazar Baba baza de Biner. The trees were uprooted and the vehicles were in ruins – sometimes stuck in the mud, sometimes in the walls.

Arriving on the market, other details of destruction were visible.

The intensity of the floods was clear because the water had reached the third floor. Some stores had collapsed. Sugar bags and women’s clothing were strewn in mud, with vehicles that passed them.

The merchants had started working alone, removing mud and water from their stores.

In Bishnoi, Al-Khidmat and other rescue agencies were difficult to work, the goods being distributed between people and an installed medical camp. Rescue and other agencies, as well as military staff, were occupied by catering work, while heavy machines also arrived.

But people from the distant areas had also come to the disaster area to help people affected.

At one point, two young men came and sat on a stone, feet encrusted with mud.

“They look at the house in front,” said another man.

The house is not immediately obvious-until that, that is to say that it underlined a foundation which had once been a home of 20 family members.

“Eighteen of them are no longer there,” he said. “Some bodies have been found and the search for others is underway.”

Two people had survived, he added, but they had been unconscious and seemed confused about the situation.

“Their understanding does not work,” he said. “If someone asks them something, he starts to cry.”