Nature’s Destructiveness

Embracing each other

Five souls stood against

The behemothic river

Those very same waters

Which must’ve been their playground

Didn’t consider the friendship

They cherished the most

Before rising

Above their heads

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Both picture and the poetry above aren’t fiction!

I receive this picture on WhatsApp today, as well as many videos, as horrific scenes of massive flash floods from Pakistan’s Northern areas hit the local social media like wildfire.

These five individuals lost their lives while standing atop a boulder, somewhere in the Kohistan district of KPK, right when the river level started to rise rapidly. Their fellow villagers tried the best they could to rescue them but the flood’s furious intensity hunted down its target.

In a country that receives four monsoon cycles each year, enduring the 8th cycle in 2022 is certainly a disaster.

Earlier this week, the government of Pakistan officially declared a ‘national emergency’ in light of the rain-induced floods which have claimed 937 lives, including 343 children, and left at least 30 million without shelter.

My city Karachi did receive heavy showers, starting from early July, which caused urban flooding in many areas but what I’m seeing since early this week, from different calamities that hit areas of Pakistan, is certainly the most saddening of all.

People I know, whose close relatives live in the countryside, are now homeless on their own land. Surrounded by water, they are struck with the utmost tragedy of lives.

Early Friday morning, I was all set to publish a new Weekend Sky episode for the weekend but right now, my heart and mind aren’t synchronized.

I’m sure you can understand 🙂

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Click on the links below if you want to read more about this disaster in Pakistan but be advised that these links contain some disturbing images:

Pakistan declares emergency in the face of calamitous floods

Rain emergency declared in several KP districts as residents brace for ‘high to very high’ floods

How to help Pakistanis affected by the floods