ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army has continued rescue and relief operations across flood-hit districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where heavy monsoon rains have triggered flash floods and landslides that killed more than 340 people and left over 150 missing, officials said on Sunday.
The military’s media wing said that Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps North troops, along with engineers equipped with heavy machinery, are clearing blocked roads and assisting in evacuations in the worst-hit districts of Buner, Shangla, Swat, Mansehra and Battagram.
Pakistan Army helicopters are also distributing food rations and evacuating the injured, women and children from the affected areas.
In Buner district, where officials said at least 208 people were killed and “10 to 12 entire villages” were partially buried, army helicopters have been airlifting rations without pause despite adverse weather.
Relief items include flour, rice, lentils, powdered milk, salt, tea and cooking oil. “One day’s ration of the country’s army is being provided to needy people after the recent floods,” the military’s media wing added.
The Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers has reopened several blocked routes, including the Aloch–Chakesar road in Shangla, while urban search and rescue teams continue operations in Bishnoi, Batai, Gokand and Pir Baba.
Pakistan Army is working at a fast pace to restore the Jar Bridge, connecting Dir and Bajaur districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Efforts are underway to install a new bridge at the site of the damaged structure. Troops from the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers are working day and night to complete the installation, Radio Pakistan reported.
The construction of the new bridge is expected to be completed within a few days.
Once the bridge is rebuilt, the disrupted link between Bajaur and Dir will be immediately restored.
Operations are being monitored from the Relief and Rescue Operations Headquarters in Dagar in coordination with local authorities.
Medical teams have also established field camps in multiple affected areas, providing free medicines and treatment.
In Nilban of Battagram district and Mansehra district, Pakistan Army personnel trekked eight kilometres on foot due to damaged roads to deliver first aid before transferring the injured to a rural health clinic. In Chhatar Plain, a medical camp treated more than 100 patients, the military said.
Pakistan Army establishes Field Hospital
Pakistan Army has established a field hospital in the Teru village of tehsil Phander in Gilgit-Baltistan.
A team of doctors will stay in the affected area with essential medicines and provide 24-hour medical facilities to the local population, Radio Pakistan reported.
Four doctors including child specialist, gynecologist and medical specialists, are part of the team.
During the relief operation, four seriously injured people have been transported to the hospital by helicopter so that they could receive timely treatment.
Pakistan Army also distributed ration bags to the affectees, which included flour, rice, pulses, drinking water and other food items.
During the recent floods, the land route to the remote village of Teru was cut off from other areas.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) confirmed that more than 317 of the deaths occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
PDMA chief Asfandyar Khattak said more than 150 people are missing in the hardest-hit Buner district, where at least 208 people were killed. “They could be trapped under the rubble of their homes or swept away by floodwaters,” the PDMA chief told AFP.
Rescue agency spokesman Bilal Ahmad Faizi said around 2,000 rescue workers were operating across nine districts, though efforts were being hampered by bad weather, continuous landslides and inaccessible routes.
“The chances of those buried under the debris surviving are very slim,” he told AFP.
The army’s relief activities have been welcomed by local residents, with many expressing gratitude for the timely assistance.
“Our entire poor community has been affected… This road was our only path, and it too has been washed away,” said Syed Wahab Bacha, a resident of Buner.
The Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, has directed that relief operations continue until connectivity and normalcy are restored.
The National Disaster Management Authority warned that monsoon activity is expected to intensify, with further spells of heavy rain likely in the coming weeks.
Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has faced increasingly destructive monsoons in recent years.
In 2022, unprecedented floods submerged a third of the country and killed around 1,700 people.
