As gushing floodwaters inundate mountain villages, turn cities into swamps, and lead to fresh graves, Pakistan’s current monsoon season once again reveals the grim reality of poor preparedness. Experts warn that without better regulation of construction and sewer maintenance, the annual downpours that have killed hundreds in recent months will continue to claim lives.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif seemed to agree during his tour of flood-stricken Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last week, where landslides killed more than 450 people. “Natural disasters are acts of God, but we cannot ignore human blunders,” he said. “If we keep letting influence and corruption control building permits, neither the people nor the governments will be forgiven.”
Pakistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation. In the devastated mountain villages the prime minister visited and elsewhere, residential areas have been built near riverbeds, blocking “natural storm drains,” former climate change minister Sherry Rehman told AFP.
Entrepreneur Fazal Khan now acknowledges the “mistake” of building his home too close to the river. His house in the Swat Valley was destroyed first by the 2010 floods and again during the 2022 inundation, which affected nearly four million Pakistanis. The 43-year-old father said, “On August 15, the floodwater once again surged through the channel and entered our home.”
A Pattern of Human Mistakes
Since it began in June, this year’s monsoon has killed approximately 800 people and damaged over 7,000 homes, with more downpours anticipated through September. While South Asia’s seasonal monsoon brings vital rainfall for farmers, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable, and deadly across the region.
According to disaster authorities, by mid-August, Pakistan had already received 50% more rainfall than this time last year. In neighboring India, flash floods and sudden storms have also killed hundreds.
Extractive practices have further compounded climate-related disasters. Former minister Rehman said that mining and logging have altered the natural watershed. “When a flood comes down, especially in mountainous terrain, a dense forest is very often able to check the speed, scale, and ferocity of the water, but Pakistan now only has five percent forest coverage, the lowest in South Asia,” she said.
Urban infrastructure has also proven inadequate. Days after villages were swept away in the north, a spell of rain in the south brought Pakistan’s financial capital, Karachi, to a standstill. The coastal megacity, with a population of over 20 million, recorded 10 deaths last week, with victims being electrocuted or crushed by collapsing roofs.
A report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) stated that brown water flooding the streets is not just the result of rain but also “clogged drains, inadequate solid waste disposal, poor infrastructure, encroachments, and elitist housing societies.” This report, published after the deadly 2020 floods, remains relevant today.
Years of Negligence
According to the commission, the issues are “inherently political,” as various parties use building permits to fuel their patronage networks, often disregarding the risks of constructing on top of drainage canals. Urban planning expert Arif Hasan, in an interview after the 2022 floods, said that in some areas, “the drain has become so narrow that when high tide occurs and it rains simultaneously, instead of the water flowing into the sea, it flows back into the river.”
The rights commission notes that in the sprawling, rapidly growing city, various authorities, both civil and military, have failed to coordinate urban planning. As a result, the infrastructure that is built may solve one problem while creating others.
“Karachi isn’t being destroyed by rain, but by years of negligence,” said Taha Ahmed Khan, an opposition lawmaker in the Sindh provincial assembly. “Illegal construction and encroachments on stormwater drains, along with substandard roads… have only worsened the crisis,” he added.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab says he has been requesting financial assistance from Islamabad every year to revamp drainage canals, but to no avail. He told AFP, “It’s easy to suggest that drainage capacity should be enhanced, but the cost is so high that it might require spending almost the entire national budget.” Yet, during the June budget vote, the opposition accused the city of having spent only 10% of the funds allocated for a major development project. The five-year plan, designed with international donors, was supposed to end the city’s monsoon suffering by the end of 2024. But nearly a year later, there is no relief.
