Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the devastating floods sweeping the country as “Judgment Day.” The Dawn reported on Thursday that he made the remarks during a meeting with flood and landslide victims in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“More than 350 of our brothers and sisters have died just in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and nationwide the toll has exceeded 700. This is a kind of Judgment Day,” the prime minister said.
Sharif recalled the catastrophic floods of 2022, noting that lessons from that disaster have not been learned. At that time, floods affected one-third of Pakistan’s territory, claiming around 2,000 lives and causing $30 billion in economic damage.
He criticized the construction of homes on riverbanks and floodplains, calling it a human error that worsened the disaster. “No country in the world allows building in such hazardous locations,” Sharif emphasized. He announced plans to ban construction in risk zones and promised to convene a meeting with provincial leaders and administrations to adopt joint measures on disaster prevention and land-use regulation.
The prime minister also highlighted the role of deforestation in exacerbating the flood damage and urged decisive action against illegal logging in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “If the trees were still there, they could have held back the torrents of water and debris,” he said, proposing a nationwide campaign to protect forests.
Pakistan’s monsoon season usually lasts from June to September, bringing heavy rains vital for agriculture but often causing floods and other natural disasters. Meteorologists predict the rains will continue until mid-September.
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Based on materials from TASS