T is not surprising if people living along the Sutlej river, for which a fresh flood alert has been issued by Punjab`s Provincial Disaster Management Authority, are feeling anxious about their lives, homes, crops and livestock. River levels are rising due to the surplus discharge of water by India.

The PDMA alert says the looming threat of escalated water flow could trigger a high-level flood in some districts including Okara, Kasur, Pakpattan, Bahawalnagar, Vehari, Lodhran, Multan and Bahawalpur. In its warning to the district administration on Thursday, the PDMA alerted the relevant departments to stay prepared to face any eventuality and minimise potential floodrelated damage. With memories of the widespread devastation caused by the 2022 floods of biblical proportions still fresh, the monsoon spell that started in the last week of June has already caused significant flooding and landslides in many parts of the country. According to the National Disaster Management Authority, heavy rains have killed around 200 people, damaged some 3,700 houses mainly in Balochistan and killed over 1,100 livestock across Pakistan so far this year. The data collected by the government agencies and NGOs shows around 3,300 acres of crops have been damaged in the provinces, with Punjab and Sindh suffering the most.

Pakistan is facing a climate emergency as global temperatures rise and weather patterns become more intense and uncertain, exposing a very large segment of the population to catastrophic flood damage. The latter indeed has been the case since the frequency of floods in Pakistan has increased significantly in the last decade and a half. Almost every monsoon season, the rains inundate most parts of the country, resulting in loss of life, property and infrastructure. The flooding triggered by monsoon rains last year wreaked havoc. More than a third of the country was submerged, 33m people displaced and 8m rendered homeless, without livelihood, shelter and food. But, as experts underline, flooding is not just about climate change. Repeated inundation also underscores governance failures at multiple levels. Pakistan, for example, has failed to develop climateresilient infrastructure and policies or prepare its citizens to cope with climate disasters. Flood-inflicted destruction is not unavoidable. But the authorities` predilection for blaming their own incompetence on climate change or attempting to deflect public attention from failures of governance and the absence of flood-resistant infrastructure will not help.