Pakistan counts almost 400 people killed in monsoon rainfall

National Disaster Management Authority reported that since June 26, 706 Pakistani have lost their lives; Storms should last until mid -September

AAMIR QURESHI/AFP
Relief teams use an excavator to remove the rubble from houses they collapsed while looking for victims in the rubble, a day after a storm in the village of Dalori, Swabi district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s mountainous province in Pakistan

At least 393 people died since last Thursday (14) in Pakistan due to the monsoon torrentials, authorities announced on Tuesday (19). The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) detailed that of this total 356 deaths occurred in the mountainous province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the northwest near Afghanistan. The agency specified that, in all, 706 Pakistanis died since June 26 due to the monsoons, whose season extends until mid -September. Meanwhile, operations continue to try to find the bodies buried under the mud and the rubble.

Gul Hazir, a inhabitant of the village of Bar Dalori, told the AFP that the rainwater came from two sides and surrounded the village. “It was like in apocalyptic films, I still don’t believe what I saw,” he said. “It wasn’t even the water that hit us first, but rocks and stones, which fell massively on our homes,” he added.

Local residents, deprived of electricity, have tried in recent hours to find their loved ones using anything: paddles, hammers, cell phones… Some, such as Saqib Ghani, even looked with their own hands. The father’s body was found, but he continues to look for other family members, arrested under the mud brought by the rain.

*With information from AFP

Posted by Nicolas Robert

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