Climate: Floods claim 1000 lives, displace six million citizens in Pakistan

Climate: Floods claim 1000 lives, displace six million citizens in Pakistan

Over six million people in Pakistan have been affected by unusually heavy monsoon rains, which have caused widespread devastation and claimed nearly 1,000 lives, including 250 children.

Flash floods have displaced thousands, leaving many survivors without time to mourn their immense losses as they scramble to rebuild their lives.

The flooding, which turned streams into torrents of mud, has especially ravaged northern and central Pakistan. In the Buner district, flash floods struck the village of Bishnoi, where dozens perished when boulders and debris swept away homes in a matter of minutes.

Habib-un-Nabi, a teacher from Bishnoi, lost 18 family members, including his parents and brother, in the disaster. “We had never seen anything like this,” he said, reflecting the deep shock and grief felt by survivors.

Many, like Habib, were too busy digging out victims to have time to grieve their own losses.

The disaster has stretched local resources thin, with survivors sheltering in government-run camps or in homes of relatives who themselves are overwhelmed.

In the aftermath, humanitarian organizations like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have been working to provide relief.

In Punjab, the hardest-hit province in terms of infrastructure damage, IOM distributed nearly 14,000 family relief kits between August and September 2025, helping those most in need across all four provinces.

As communities across Pakistan continue to cope with the devastation, rebuilding efforts are underway, but the scale of the damage and loss is so great that many survivors are still struggling to regain a sense of stability