PESHAWAR: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has informed Peshawar High Court that 504 persons including 338 men, 76 women and 90 children lost lives during this year devastating monsoon flooding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The authority provided the information in its comments submitted to the high court in a petition filed for developing and implementing a comprehensive disaster management plan and providing adequate compensation and relief to victims of this year natural disasters in the province.
The authority informed the court that prime minister had also approved payment of Rs2 million to next of kin of each of the deceased person.
Apart from NDMA, KP relief, rehabilitation and settlement department and ministry of climate change, who are also respondents in the petition, have also submitted their comments to the court.
Petitioner seeks development of disaster management plan by govt
A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal has put of hearing on request of some of the respondents in the petition filed by Advocate Ahmad Mujtaba, belonging to Swabi district, seeking multiple reliefs related to disasters and natural calamities including floods.
Advocate Mohammad Hamdan appeared for the petitioner and requested the court to issue directives to government to take measures for preventing landslide and flash floods including afforestation, infrastructure development and other mitigating measures.
He sought directives of the court for respondents to establish early warning system and emergency preparedness plans for the areas prone to disasters; set up a monitoring and oversight mechanism to ensure that the disaster management plan was implemented effectively; conduct a thorough assessment of the damage caused by natural disasters in KP and take steps to restore and rebuild affected infrastructure and communities; provide basic necessities like food, shelter and medical aid; and take measures for mitigating the impact of climate change and adapt to its consequences.
NDMA, in its comments, stated that Pakistan’s existing disaster management system (DMS) was structured in a three-tier devolved system with the primary onus on provincial and district authorities. However, it added that NDMA’s role was to extend support when any disaster was beyond the capacity of provincial/district governments during emergency on the directions of federal government.
It said that losses and damage were recorded in KP during monsoon 2025. As per NDMA’s final situation report of Oct 2, 2025, a total of 504 deaths were reported including 256 in Buner district, followed by 43 and 42 in Swabi and Swat, respectively. Similarly, 39 deaths were reported in Shangla, 28 in Mansehra and 25 in Bajaur.
Moreover, 218 persons had also received injuries during floods in different districts in the province.
NDMA also said that a total of 3,222 houses were damaged including 701 fully and 2521 partially damaged. Majority of the 971 houses were damaged in Buner, which was the most severely hit district in the province. A total of 5,467 livestock deaths were also recorded in KP.
The authority claimed that its technical early warning wing continuously monitored meteorological and hydrological conditions across the country using a combination of satellite-based atmospheric datasets and access to on ground measurement networks.
The authority stated that National Disaster management Plan (NDMP) 2025 provided a comprehensive overview of emerging hazards in Pakistan, supported by historical profile.
KP relief department, in its comments, informed the bench that Rescue 1122 rescued around 6,395 persons alive including 2,076 in Swat, 1,391 in Mansehra and 1,214 in Buner. Similarly, Rescue 1122 recovered 442 dead bodies during the monsoon floods this year.
It contended that national disaster such as cloudburst, landslides and heavy rainfall were unforeseen natural phenomena, not attributable to any lapse of respondents. It said that PDMA held a high-level preparedness meeting with chief secretary on June 19, 2025, and key stakeholders to review monsoon contingency plan 2025 so as to ensure top-down directives for timely preparedness actions across the province.
The department, in its 167-page comments, provided details of monsoon contingency plan, SOPs regarding issuance of threat alerts for floods and weather advisories and rescued statistics issued by PDMA.
The department stated that upon receiving critical inputs from Pakistan Meteorological department and NDMA, PDMA undertook a thorough assessment of the potential threat and that evaluation allowed them to categorise the severity of the impending event and formulate appropriate responses.
It also provided details of support to affected people including provision of non-food items, relief funds and logistic support.
The ministry of climate change, in its comments, requested the high court to dismiss the petition as the aggrieved person had the remedy available to file a complaint before environmental protection tribunal to address his grievances under KP Environmental Protection Act, 2014.
It said that the implementation of the said Act, rules and regulations and policy was the fundamental responsibility of KP Environmental Protection Agency within territorial jurisdiction of the province after the Constitution (18th Amendment) Act.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2025.
