UN Sounds Alarm Over Pakistan’s Disaster Preparedness as Monsoon Risks Rise
ISLAMABAD – With another intense monsoon spell on the horizon, the United Nations is warning Pakistan to urgently overhaul its disaster preparedness systems, citing mounting threats from both climate change and geography.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says Pakistan’s location along active tectonic fault lines, combined with increasingly erratic weather patterns, leaves it dangerously exposed to earthquakes, floods, droughts and landslides. Political instability and security challenges, the report notes, make managing these risks even harder.
Warning Ahead of Heavy Rains
The caution comes as the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) forecasts heavy rainfall between August 14 and 22. The downpour could trigger urban flooding in northern cities and unleash glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), flash floods and landslides in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea are expected to continue feeding the system.
Recurring Disasters, Growing Costs
UNOCHA’s report stresses that floods are Pakistan’s most frequent and damaging disaster. The 2022 floods alone affected over 30 million people and wiped out economic output equivalent to almost six percent of the country’s GDP. Droughts, particularly in arid zones, have deepened water scarcity and devastated farming and livestock, further straining rural economies.
Call for Action
The UN is urging Islamabad to put disaster risk reduction at the center of its planning—strengthening early warning systems, investing in community-level resilience and improving governance to ensure that emergency responses don’t derail long-term development goals.
Without these measures, the report warns, Pakistan will remain locked in a cycle where each disaster sets back recovery efforts, leaving communities more vulnerable to the next blow.
