Since June, more than six million people in Pakistan have been affected by what has been described as “unusually heavy monsoon rains”, which have claimed almost 1,000 lives, including some 250 children.
Residents are still recovering from flash floods that turned creeks into roaring rivers of mud, and many displaced people are still sheltering in government-run camps or with host families already stretched to their limits.
In Pakistan’s northern Buner district, dozens of people perished in the village of Bishnoi under rocks and debris when flash floods rushed down the slopes, sweeping away homes and lives in a matter of minutes.
In Buner, northern Pakistan, flash floods turned mountain streams into boulder fields, with iron bars sticking out like rusty crops.
“We have never seen anything like this,” said Habib-un-Nabi, 35, a teacher from Bishnoi village.
His simple words carry the weight of pain and disbelief. Habib lost eighteen members of his family in a single day, including his parents and brother.
Those who survived barely had time to cry. “We were too busy trying to dig others up, helping whoever we could,” Habib recalled.
IOM support
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Pakistan launched humanitarian operations in flood-affected northern areas, where hundreds of lives were lost and thousands were left homeless.
In Punjab – Pakistan’s most populous province and the most affected 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 goods.
Between August and September 2025, the United Nations migration agency distributed nearly 14,000 family aid kits adapted to local needs in the four provinces as part of a single project.
These interventions are part of broader efforts to help communities adapt to an increasingly human-driven climate crisis, fueled by deforestation, rapid urbanization and the degradation of natural drainage systems.
In Naseer Khan Lolai, a village in Kashmore, Ali Gohar, 65, has survived many floods, but none have been as devastating as this one.
Entire houses collapsed, livestock were swept away, and the land (owned by local landowners) left farmers like him with little control over its recovery.
As floods and heat waves intensify in Pakistan, communities are showing that adaptation is not only possible but essential, turning the human cost of climate change into a call for shared responsibility and stronger action.