Hundreds dead in India and Pakistan after heaviest rain in 50 years

The death toll from the heaviest rain to fall on Kashmir in half a century rose to more than 400 on Tuesday, with thousands still trapped on rooftops. On the Indian side of the heavily militarized Line of Control that divides the Himalayan region, the city of Srinagar lay submerged along with more than 2,000 villages. More than 1.5 million people are now affected as the rushing waters have destroyed the homes of thousands of families. The Indian Air Force has air-dropped more than 550 tonnes of relief material, and 80 medical teams have established emergency health services in government schools and state-run health care centers. In Pakistan, at least 231 people have been reported dead across the country, including Pakistan’s side of Kashmir.

"The damage is shocking. People have been stranded on the rooftops of their homes for the last three days in some parts of Kashmir.

A senior official from India’s National Disaster Response Force

Meanwhile, the Central Water Commission, which issues flood advisories, has been criticized by Indian media for not warning the state of Jammu and Kashmir despite a forecast of heavy rain by India’s meteorological department last week. A senior official from India’s National Disaster Response Force, who requested anonymity, said he would have deployed disaster-response teams earlier, but “we were all caught off guard because there was not a single warning issued by the weather office. The flash floods took us by surprise”. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said this year’s monsoon rains had killed more than 1,000 people in India alone.

With the memory of the catastrophic floods of recent years still fresh, many are wondering why the present calamity was not better predicted, flood warnings were not issued with more urgency, and mitigation measures not undertaken speedily.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper

Asia-Pacific