Three children were killed and five people were injured as roofs collapsed in two separate incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Malakand division after heavy rains in the region.
Last week, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) alerted the district administrations across KP to the possibility of floods due to a new spell of torrential rains from July 11 to 17. Heavy rainfall and flash floods have wreaked havoc in the province in June and are set to continue.
Pakistan experiences monsoon rainfall from June to September every year. The heavy rains also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas.
Lower Dir Rescue 1122 spokesperson Abdur Rehman told media.com today, “An under-construction mud house roof collapsed, burying four children underneath debris.”
He said the incident occurred at the Shahi Moro Barawal area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Lower Dir.
According to the Rescue 1122 spokesperson, the rescue team had reached the site and retrieved the children from the debris and shifted them to a Samar Bagh hospital, where doctors declared two of them dead.
He said the remaining two children were undergoing medical assistance at the hospital.
In another incident, a child was killed and a mother and two others were injured when a mud-roof collapsed due to heavy rainfall in the Opal area of Chakesar tehsil in Shangla.
Shangla Rescue 1122 spokesperson Rasool Khan Sharif told media.com that the family was asleep at night when the roof collapsed due to torrential rain.
“The local people had retrieved the trapped family members who were all buried underneath debris,” Sharif said.
The rescue spokesperson added that a five-year-old boy was killed while the mother and two other children were injured.
He said the injured family members were taken to the Rasool Khan Sharif Rural Health Centre, from where they were referred to a hospital in Mingora, Swat, for further treatment.
The deaths came amid an alert from the KP PDMA about the increased risk of glacial lake outburst floods (Glof).
“Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Islamabad has intimated that a wet spell is likely to affect KP in current week. During this period, scattered rain and thunderstorms, with isolated heavy falls, are expected in KP. The prevailing weather conditions, increase the risk of Glofs and flash flood events in vulnerable glaciated regions of KP.
“In view of the above weather conditions, you are requested to kindly take all necessary
precautionary measures to avoid any loss of life/ livestock and damages to infrastructure/ crops,” said the alert to the deputy commissioners of Upper and Lower Chitral, Upper Dir, Swat and Upper Kohistan.
Ten people, including eight children, were killed in separate rain-related incidents across KP on Monday.
The deaths were reported in Bajaur, Khyber, Malakand, Kohat and Lakki Marwat districts. The PDMA had confirmed six deaths.
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