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Rain disasters kill more than 200 in deadly week in Asia, Lahore gets record downpours

Indian army soldiers make a bailey bridge as rescuers search through mud and debris for a third day after landslides set off by torrential rains in Wayanad district, Kerala state, India, on August 1, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 02 August 2024
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Rain disasters kill more than 200 in deadly week in Asia, Lahore gets record downpours

  • Governments have launched disaster prevention plans to try to mitigate the damage
  • Rescue teams scramble to evacuate people ahead of storms and deliver relief goods
Updated 02 August 2024
AP

In India and China, torrential rains have killed more than 200 people in the past week. Three others died in Pakistan. Widespread flooding has been reported in North Korea near the border with China with no word on whether anyone died.

This time of year is monsoon and typhoon season in Asia, and climate change has intensified such storms. Heavy rains have triggered landslides and flooding, devastating crops, destroying homes and taking lives.

Historical data shows that China is having more extremely hot days and more frequent intense rains, according to a report released last month by the China Meteorological Administration, which forecasts more of both in the coming 30 years.

Governments have launched disaster prevention plans to try to mitigate the damage. Rescue teams scramble to evacuate people ahead of approaching storms and deliver relief goods by helicopter to cut-off areas. China has deployed drones for emergency communication in rain-prone provinces.

Sometimes it isn’t enough, as the tragic consequences playing out in Asia show.

India: 194 dead, 187 missing

Heavy rains sent torrents of mud and water through tea estates and villages in Kerala state in southern India early Tuesday, destroying bridges and flattening houses.

Hope of finding survivors has waned as the search entered its fourth day. Bodies have been found as many as 30 kilometers (20 miles) downriver from the main landslides.

The area is known for its picturesque tea and cardamom estates, with hundreds of plantation workers living in nearby temporary shelters. “This was a very beautiful place,” a shopkeeper said. “I used to visit here many times. ... Now there is nothing left.”

India regularly has severe floods during the monsoon season, which runs between June and September and brings rain that is crucial for crops.

China: 48 dead, 35 missing

Typhoon Gaemi was blamed for more than 30 deaths in the Philippines and 10 in Taiwan as it churned through the western Pacific last week, but it was still fatal after weakening to a tropical storm in China.

Rain drenched parts of inland Hunan province for several days. On Sunday morning, a mudslide slammed into a homestay house in a popular weekend spot, killing 15 people.

Elsewhere in Hunan, the bodies of three people were found on Monday, believed to be victims of another landslide. And authorities in nearby Zixing city announced Thursday that 30 people had died in floods, with 35 others missing.

One other death in China was apparently tied to the storm, a delivery driver on a scooter struck by falling tree branches during high winds in Shanghai.

China has recorded 25 major floods this year, the most since it began keeping statistics in 1998, the Ministry of Water Resources said this week.

North Korea: Damage, but no information on deaths

The tropical storm also generated heavy rain in northeast China on the border with North Korea, overflowing the Yalu River, which divides the two countries.

In North Korea, the rain flooded 4,100 houses, 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of farmland and many public buildings, roads and railways.

Its state media did not give information on deaths, though the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un implied there were casualties when he was quoted blaming public officials who had neglected disaster prevention, causing “the casualty that cannot be allowed.”

Military helicopters and navy and other government boats evacuated stranded residents. State TV aired footage showing Kim and other officials riding on rubber boats to examine the scale of the damage. The footage showed houses submerged in muddy waters with only their roofs visible.

On the Chinese side, state television showed excavators in rushing water trying to clear debris after a mudslide in Jilin province. One city near North Korea asked people living below the third floor to move higher as the Yalu River rose.

In Dandong, a large Chinese city along the river, rescuers evacuated residents in rubber dinghies on streets turned into virtual lakes. There were no reports of deaths.

Pakistan: 3 dead

Record rainfall in the city of Lahore flooded streets and left at least three people dead in Pakistan on Thursday. The deaths at the start of August came on top of 99 rain-related fatalities the previous month.

Some parts of Lahore recorded 353 millimeters (14 inches) of rain in a few hours, breaking a 44-year-old record. The rain was so heavy that it entered some hospital wards in the capital of Punjab province.

The victims included two children, one who drowned in a flooded street and another who fell from the roof of her house.

Topics: rain Asia Arab News Pakistan Lahore

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Threat of war with India empties scenic Pakistani valley of summer tourists

Updated 6 sec ago
AP
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Threat of war with India empties scenic Pakistani valley of summer tourists

  • Gunmen last week killed 26 people in the Indian-administered Kashmir’s resort town of Pahalgam
  • The attack has fueled tensions after India blamed Pakistan for the attack, Islamabad denies charge
Updated 6 sec ago
AP

MUZAFFARABAD: Neelum Valley in northern Pakistan attracts some 300,000 tourists each summer who marvel at its natural beauty. But the threat of war with nearby India has emptied its hotels.
Gunmen last week killed 26 people in the Indian-administered Kashmir’s resort town of Pahalgam, fueling tensions between the nuclear-armed nations after India blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Pakistan denies.
Neelum Valley is less than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir, making it vulnerable to any military activity.
Hotel owner Rafaqat Hussain said Thursday the crisis has hit the tourism industry hard.
“Most tourists have left and returned to their cities because there is a risk of war,” he said.
Authorities in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir temporarily shuttered dozens of tourist resorts following the attack as a precaution.
No such order has come from Pakistani authorities. Bazaars in the Pakistani border town of Chakothi were open for business, although people were concerned.
“First of all, our prayer is for peace, as war always affects civilians first,” shop owner Bashir Mughal told The Associated Press, saying he would fight alongside the army in the event of conflict.
Pakistan used to help residents build bunkers near their homes during periods of intense cross-border firing. But the population has grown and some homes lack shelters.
“Local casualties could be devastating if war breaks out,” Mughal warned.
Saiqa Naseer, also from Chakothi, shuddered at the childhood memories of frequent firing across the border.
“Now, as a mother, I find myself facing the same fears,” she said.
She remembered Indian shells striking the picturesque valley when the two countries came close to war in 2019. She has a bunker at her home.
“If war comes, we will stay here. We won’t run away,” she said.

Topics: Neelum Valley

Rising Jhelum River threatens people in Azad Kashmir

Updated 50 min 46 sec ago
Reuters
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Rising Jhelum River threatens people in Azad Kashmir

  • The development comes after India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, cutting off vital flood data
  • Locals face growing uncertainty and increased risk, say they received no prior notification of water release
Updated 50 min 46 sec ago
Reuters

MUZAFFARABAD, Azad Kashmir: Rising water levels along the Jhelum River in Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir have caused concern for thousands of residents living downstream.
With India releasing more water than usual into the river and the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty cutting off vital flood data, locals face growing uncertainty and increased risk.
Along the riverbank, 72-year-old Rafiq Hussain and his family of six have been watching floodwaters creep within meters of their home.
“When India released the water, the river rose by eight to ten feet. There’s a lot of fear and uncertainty, especially after hearing reports that more water could be released without any warning,” he said.
Hussain, a farmer and father of four, said they received no prior notification of the water release. He estimates that over ten thousand people residing in about one thousand homes along the riverbank are directly exposed to the flood risk.
The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, once a rare symbol of cooperation, is now in question. India claims sovereignty over water use, while Pakistan warns of weaponization of a shared resource.
“Well there are bilateral agreements between India and Pakistan, but this Indus Waters Treaty is trilateral. It’s not between only India and Pakistan, but the World Bank is there. And as far as the articles of that agreement is concerned, that no one, either India or Pakistan, can walk away from this. They have to agree mutually if they want to scrap this agreement,” said Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan, former prime minister of Azad Kashmir, a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity in the western portion of the larger, disputed Kashmir region.
For families like Hussain’s, this is no longer just about diplomacy — it’s about survival.
“I cross the river to fish and sell it locally, just enough to get by. Last week, I set my nets, but two days later, a sudden ten-foot surge of water hit. By the time I returned, the nets were gone. I suffered heavy losses,” said Hameed Hussain, Rafiq’s son.
Tensions between India and Pakistan in Kashmir have increased since an attack last week on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed at least 26 people, mostly Indian visitors to the region. India has blamed Pakistan for supporting the attack, a charge which Pakistan vigorously denies.

Topics: Kashmir Indus Waters Treaty

Sindh governor to fund treatment of Pakistani teen separated from Indian mother after Arab News coverage

Updated 46 min 1 sec ago
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Sindh governor to fund treatment of Pakistani teen separated from Indian mother after Arab News coverage

  • Muhammad Ayan, paralyzed after a spine injury in 2023, was under treatment at New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, when he and his family were forced to leave India
  • The development came after Pakistan, India asked each other’s nationals to leave following a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists
Updated 46 min 1 sec ago
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Kamran Tessori, the governor of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, has taken notice of an ailing Pakistani teenager who was separated from his Indian mother as tensions rose between the two neighboring countries, Tessori’s office said on Thursday, after Arab News published a story about the 17-year-old.
Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people on April 22. Islamabad has rejected the charge. Both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, taken diplomatic measures against each other, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut, leaving many in limbo.
Muhammad Ayan, paralyzed after he suffered a gunshot wound to his spine during a gunfight between police and street criminals in Karachi in 2023, was under treatment at New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, when he and his family were forced to leave India, following the Kashmir attack. Ayan’s mother, Nabeela, who is an Indian national, could not travel with them.
Arab News this week published a story on the 17-year-old teenager who had to return to the southern Pakistani city of Karachi along with his father, Muhammad Imran, and siblings after being separated from his mother, prompting Governor Tessori to take notice of Ayan’s tragedy.

“I will pay all the expenses of the treatment of the disabled child,” Tessori was quoted as saying by his office.
Ayan narrated to Arab News how he got separated from his mother amid tears and sobs.
“She was separated from us while crying and we also came here with great difficulty, crying,” an emotional Ayan said.
Ayan’s father, Imran, had married his maternal cousin, Nabeela, a resident of New Delhi, 18 years ago. Since then, Nabeela had been living in Pakistan on a visa that was intermittently renewed without her ever needing to acquire Pakistan’s nationality.
But the suspension of visas meant Imran and his Pakistani children’s 45-day medical visa was no longer valid. And Nabeela was eventually left behind in India.
The April 22 assault occurred as tourists enjoyed tranquil mountain views at the popular site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, when gunmen burst out of forests and raked crowds with automatic weapons.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full but governing separate portions of it. Both countries have two of their three wars over the disputed territory.
Separatist groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing the militants, Islamabad denies it and says it only supports Kashmiris diplomatically and politically.
Imran said he went to India after spending “every single rupee” with the hope that his son would walk again. However, bilateral tensions between India and Pakistan, and the ensuing atmosphere in India made his family “very scared.”
“I told them, ‘I am married [to her],’ I pleaded with them, cried, and showed a lot of humility,” Imran said about his interaction with Indian authorities.
“But they said, ‘No, write an exit and leave.’“
For Ayan, the shock of being separated from his mother compounded the trauma of his paralysis and incomplete treatment.
“I went for treatment with a hope but that hope shattered because of that accident and then the fact that my mother was not coming with us,” he said.
“I was completely separated from a mother’s love. We were far apart; it made me cry.”
In his statement, Governor Tessori said Pakistanis are a proud nation and know how to share each other’s pain.
“If India has descended into hostility toward humanity, I will get him treated,” he said.

 

Topics: Pahalgam attack India Pakistan Ties

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PM says no ‘conceivable advantage’ for Pakistan in Indian-administered Kashmir attack

Updated 02 May 2025
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PM says no ‘conceivable advantage’ for Pakistan in Indian-administered Kashmir attack

  • Public anger has swelled in India since the attack and PM Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers ‘to the ends of the earth’
  • The Pakistani information minister says New Delhi has offered no evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the attack that killed 26 people
Updated 02 May 2025
KASHIF IMRAN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan would gain no “conceivable advantage” by involving itself in an incident like the Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir at a time when it is on the path to economic stability, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday, amid heightened tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi over the attack that killed 26 people on April 22.
India has accused Pakistan of backing the attack, which Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed rivals have since expelled each other’s diplomats and citizens, ordered the border shut and closed their airspace to each other. New Delhi has also suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad.
Soldiers on each side have also exchanged fire along their de facto border, driving tensions between India and Pakistan to their highest point in recent years. The situation prompted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to call senior officials in India and Pakistan this week in an effort to defuse the crisis.


The tensions come at a time when Pakistan is treading a long, tricky path to economic recovery under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program since averting a default on its foreign debt obligations in 2023. Islamabad has reached out countries in Central Asia and beyond to boost trade as economic indicators significantly improved in the South Asian country.
“Pakistan condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and underscored the nation’s sacrifices in the war against terror,” PM Sharif said in his conversation with Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, underscoring his nation’s hard-earned economic gains over the past year.
“Pakistan would gain no conceivable advantage by involving itself in any such incident at a time when it was on the path to economic stability.”
Sharif reiterated his call for a credible, transparent and neutral international investigation into the Pahalgam attack, expressing concerns over India’s “weaponization of the waters of the Indus Basin.”
India on April 23 suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.” Islamabad has described India’s move as an “act of war.”
In his conversation with the Pakistan premier, the Qatari emir his country wanted to work with Pakistan toward ensuring the de-escalation of the current crisis.
Public anger has swelled in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers “to the ends of the earth.” A Pakistani minister has said that Pakistan has “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days.
Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told CNN on Thursday that India had failed to provide a shred of proof of Pakistan’s involvement in the Pahalgam incident.
“India, after Pahalgam incident, blamed Pakistan without any evidence, but Pakistan has offered a fair and transparent investigation to the matter,” he said, adding that New Delhi had used such incidents as pretexts to attack Pakistan in the past.
“This is not the first time, they have done this before in the past, exploiting such incidents to their advantage.”
On Thursday, Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Asim Munir, reviewed a military training exercise by the armed forces in the eastern Punjab province, the military said.
It said in a statement that the “exercise was meticulously designed to validate combat readiness, battlefield synergy, and the operational integration of cutting-edge weapon systems under near-battlefield conditions.”
“Let there be no ambiguity: any military misadventure by India will be met with a swift, resolute, and notch-up response,” the statement quoted Munir as saying. “While Pakistan remains committed to regional peace, our preparedness and resolve to safeguard national interests is absolute.”
The Indian army in a statement on Thursday said it responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from Pakistan in the Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor sectors of Indian-controlled Kashmir. The previous day, Pakistan’s state-run media said Indian forces had violated the ceasefire agreement along the de facto border in Kashmir by initiating fire with heavy weapons on troops in the Mandal sector of Azad Kashmir. The incidents could not be independently verified.
The region of Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. The two countries have fought two wars and one limited conflict over the Himalayan territory.
The United Nations (UN) has urged the arch-rivals to talk, while China, which shares its border with both India and Pakistan, this week repeated its call on both sides to “exercise restraint.” Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation,” while Iran has offered to mediate the crisis.

Topics: Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Pakistan saw ‘sharp’ 22 percent decline in militant attacks in April, says think tank 

Updated 02 May 2025
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Pakistan saw ‘sharp’ 22 percent decline in militant attacks in April, says think tank 

  • Pakistan’s security forces have been battling twin insurgencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan provinces
  • April also marked the lowest monthly death toll among security forces since June 2024, says think tank’s report
Updated 02 May 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan witnessed a sharp decline in militant attacks during April, an Islamabad-based think tank said in its report this week, saying that they dropped by a whopping 22 percent compared to the previous month, March. 

The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), an Islamabad-based think tank, said in its monthly report that both militant attacks and resultant casualties dropped sharply compared to March. 

Pakistan’s security forces have been battling twin insurgencies in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces. In KP, the Pakistani Taliban frequently carry out some of the deadliest attacks against security forces while in Balochistan, Pakistani troops are battling ethnic Baloch separatists seeking independence from the state.

“The number of militant attacks fell by 22 percent— from 105 in March to 82 in April— while fatalities and injuries declined by 63 percent and 49 percent, respectively,” the PICSS said in its press release on Thursday. 

The report said Pakistani security forces killed 203 militants in various operations throughout the month. Militants formed an overwhelming majority (73 percent) of the total fatalities in April, while only four casualties were reported. Of these, two were civilians and two were security personnel, it added. 

“A total of 287 people were killed in April due to militant violence and security operations, down from 335 in March,” the think tank said. 

The report said April also marked the lowest monthly death toll among security forces since June 2024, noting that civilian deaths also dropped significantly last month. 

“PICSS attributed these improvements to proactive intelligence-led operations and enhanced border vigilance,” it said. 

The report said the most “consequential development” of the month was a two-phase military operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border that targeted a large group of infiltrating Pakistani Taliban militants. 

“At least 71 militants were killed— making it the biggest loss suffered by the group in a single operation to date,” the report said. 

The think tank also noted the resurgence of attacks on local peace committee members in tribal districts who have historically resisted militant infiltrations.

“The resurgence of attacks on these volunteers, particularly in the tribal districts, suggests that groups like the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan] are attempting to reassert dominance by silencing local resistance structures,” it said. 

The report said mainland KP recorded 37 militant attacks in April, marginally down from 42 in March while tribal districts reported 17 attacks last month, slightly down from 18 in March. Balochistan witnessed 21 militant attacks in April, compared to 35 in March while Punjab reported three and Sindh four attacks in April. 

It said Pakistan’s capital Islamabad remained peaceful in April, with no militant attacks reported for the second consecutive month. 

Topics: Militant attacks

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