t least 14 people have lost their lives due to flash floods and landslides in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as heavy monsoon rains continue to lash various parts of the city, adding to the misery of the population which had still been reeling from the damage caused by the floods of 2022.

According to local media, earlier this week, seven houses were destroyed and 67 sustained partial damages as heavy rains lashed the Chitral district of the province and triggered flash floods. While many parts of KP do not face accumulation of rain water due to their slopey terrains, they still witness significant damage to the infrastructure.

In 2022, the floods were so powerful that they changed the course of some rivers. The KP has eight major rivers and mountain ranges that make the province more vulnerable to natural calamities.

In view of last year’s cataclysmic floods, which claimed 1,700 lives, affected 33 million people, swept away swathes of agricultural land and caused estimated losses worth $30 billion, concerned authorities took some measures to mitigate the damage by installing early warning systems on seven major rivers, allowing experts to monitor the water levels there and carry out evacuation operations, if need be.

The administration of several districts of the KP was put on high alert to carry out relief operations amid the fresh wave of floods. Caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan asked the relief department to post their teams on the ground in order to deal with any untoward situation.

Aside from taking measures to prevent deaths and losses caused by heavy rains, floods, and landslides, on July 26 the federal cabinet approved the National Adaptation Plan 2023 to combat climate change.

“Thank you to all cabinet colleagues and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for approving Pakistan’s National Adaptation Plan 2023 today in the federal cabinet. Great service to Pakistan as it faces adaptation and resilience challenges,” Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman wrote on Twitter.

In response, PM Sharif said that climate change was redefining every human experience on the planet, especially Pakistan.

In 2022, the floods were so powerful that they changed the course of some rivers in the country. The KP has eight major rivers and mountain ranges that make the province more vulnerable to natural calamities.

“In the long journey to build resilience, our government is proud to pass our country’s National Adaptation Plan, which will give Pakistan the essential tools to adapt to the risks of climate stress,” he said.

“As the last year’s devastating floods showed, climate change is a development, economic, human and national security issue critical to the future of our people. All the more reason to invest in climate adaptation to build our core capacities to fully cope with the challenge...”

According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 150 people have been killed in various parts of Pakistan in rain-related incidents since the monsoon spell began in the country on June 25.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department had forecast that the rains would continue in the country till July 26. Several northern parts of Pakistan, including Skardu and Chitral, have witnessed severe landsliding, pushing the authorities concerned to declare an emergency in the region.

Peshawar’s Regional Meteorological Centre has predicted rain or wind-thundershowers in several areas including Chitral, Lower and Upper Dir, Swat, Bajaur, Shangla, Buner, Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Kurram, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and North and South Waziristan districts.

The advisory by the regional weather centre says that heavy rain may cause urban flooding in low lying areas of Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Charsadda and DI Khan. It could also trigger landslides in vulnerable areas, including Swat, Chitral, Dir, Shangla, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Kurram and Khyber districts.

In light of the forecast, travellers and tourists have been advised to remain extra cautious.

While authorities gear up to tackle any untoward incident during the ongoing rain spell across the province, only time will tell just how prepared they really were.

The writer is the editor of The Khorasan Diary. He can be reached on Twitter @iftikharfirdous