Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday instructed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to conduct comprehensive relief operations in flood-affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir.

At least 198 people lost their lives and several remained missing as flash floods wreaked havoc across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

“The prime minister directed the NDMA to continue its cooperation with the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the PDMA, to provide them with all possible support in the rescue and relief operation and to utilise all resources for this,” a statement issued by the prime minister’s office read.

NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik briefed the prime minister on the damage caused by cloudbursts, flash floods in the upper parts of the country, as well as the rescue and relief operation.

The prime minister directed the NDMA chairman to further coordinate with the KP provincial government for rescue and relief activities.

“Tents, medicines, food items and other relief materials should be delivered to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government immediately,” the prime minister directed.

The premier further ordered that relief materials should be sent through trucks on a priority basis immediately.

“People and tourists stranded in the flood-affected areas should be immediately taken to safe places.”

The prime minister was briefed on the progress of the rescue and relief operation, along with the assessment of the damage, during the meeting.

PM Shehbaz also had a telephone conversation with KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and expressed grief over the loss of precious lives due to the recent cloudburst and flash floods in KP. He told Gandapur that the federal government will provide all possible assistance to the provincial government.

The prime minister also held a telephone conversation with KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi.

“Our sympathies are with the victims in this hour of difficulty,” the prime minister said.

Since late June, monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across the country — especially KP and northern regions — by triggering deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas.

Yesterday, over a dozen people were killed as rains and flooding ripped through the country’s northern parts, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

In Muzaffarabad, a massive landslide in Sarli Sacha village hit a home, leaving six members of a family buried and feared dead. Torrential rains claimed the lives of two more women in AJK’s Bagh and Sudhnoti districts.

In GB, flash floods killed at least eight people, with two still missing in the Ghizer district, while also devastating villages in the Khalti, Ishkoman and Yasin areas.

Similarly, a spell of heavy downpour lashed various parts of Abbottabad district yesterday, triggering flash floods that severely disrupted traffic flow and caused damage to infrastructure.

At least 507 people, including 159 children, have died and 768 others have been injured since June 26 in flash floods and torrential rains that have battered several parts of Pakistan, according to daily data from the NDMA.