Since June, more than six million people in Pakistan have been hit by what have been described as “unusually heavy monsoon rains,” which have claimed nearly a thousand lives, including about 250 children.
Residents are still recovering from the flash floods that turned rivers into roaring rivers of mud, with many displaced people still seeking shelter in government-run camps or with host families already pushed to their limits.
In northern Pakistan’s Buner district, dozens of people were killed in the village of Bishnoi under boulders and rubble as flash floods crashed down the slopes, sweeping away homes and lives in minutes.
In Buner, northern Pakistan, flash floods turned mountain streams into fields of boulders, with iron bars sticking out like rusted crops.
“We had never seen anything like this,” said 35-year-old Habib-un-Nabi, a teacher from the village of Bishnoi.
His simple words carry the weight of sadness and disbelief. Habib lost eighteen family members in one day, including his parents and brother.
Those who survived barely had time to mourn. “We were too busy digging up others to help whoever we could,” Habib recalls.
IOM support
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Pakistan, humanitarian operations began in the northern flood-affected areas, where hundreds of lives were lost and thousands left homeless.
In Punjab – Pakistan’s most populous province and the hardest hit in terms of infrastructure damage during the 2025 floods – IOM worked with partners and through the Common Pipeline, a shared humanitarian logistics system that stores and delivers emergency supplies.
Between August and September 2025, the UN migration agency distributed nearly 14,000 family aid packages, tailored to local needs, in all four provinces as part of a single project.
These interventions are part of broader efforts to help communities adapt to a climate crisis that is increasingly man-made and fueled by deforestation, rapid urbanization and the degradation of natural drainage systems.
In Naseer Khan Lolai, a village in Kashmore, 65-year-old Ali Gohar has experienced many floods, but none as devastating as this one.
Entire houses collapsed, livestock were wiped out and the land – owned by local landlords – left farmers like him with little control over their recovery.
As floods and heatwaves intensify across Pakistan, communities are showing that adaptation is not only possible but essential, turning the human costs of climate change into a call for shared responsibility and stronger action.
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