In Ghazi village of Balochistan’s Kachhi district, residents did not wait for a formal evacuation order when floodwater from the Nari River and hill torrents swept into their homes in March this year. They moved to safer ground themselves. Eight houses were destroyed, embankments of 10 others were damaged and winter vegetable and wheat crops were washed away. For families already struggling to eke out a living, the flood was another blow to a fragile existence.
“I was afraid the water would enter our house,” a resident recalled, reflecting the anxiety that forced families to leave for safer ground.
In Harnai, three consecutive days of rain weakened mud houses. A roof caved in, livestock were buried under debris and roads linking the district with Quetta, Sibi and Punjab were cut off. In Qila Abdullah, a passenger van carrying 15 people, including women and children, became trapped in floodwater before rescuers brought everyone to safety.
These incidents capture a reality statistics often fail to convey: for many people in Balochistan, climate change is no longer a distant environmental threat. It is a recurring disruption to everyday life.
Recovery Remains Fragile
The province entered the 2026 monsoon season with many communities still carrying the scars of the catastrophic 2022 floods. The latest National Disaster Management Authority data show that from June 26 to August 15, eight people died and 15 were injured in Balochistan. During the same period, 228 houses were damaged, including 21 completely destroyed, while 126 livestock were lost across several districts.
The figures may appear modest compared with 2022, but that is precisely the concern. Balochistan is experiencing repeated shocks before many communities have fully recovered from previous ones.
The challenge is also visible in the controversy surrounding post-flood reconstruction. The Rs115 billion World Bank-funded Integrated Flood Resilience and Adaptation Project (IFRAP) was designed to rebuild homes while strengthening roads, irrigation, water systems, livelihoods and other essential services.
The World Bank has warned that shifting resources away from housing could deepen poverty. Its assessment found that 84 per cent of eligible beneficiaries were ultra-poor or vulnerable, while 39 per cent were tenants, 37 per cent daily-wage workers and 8 per cent small farmers. Many have little savings and few productive assets.
World Bank Country Director Bolormaa Amgaabazar warned that existing vulnerabilities could become “mutually reinforcing and deepen over time”.
Beyond Rebuilding Homes
The government maintains that resilience must extend beyond housing. According to a report published on August 14, the Planning Ministry said 68,992 fully damaged or destroyed houses remained eligible for reconstruction assistance, while construction had started on 74,988 houses, with 26,357 completed under the owner-driven model by August 10.
That argument is difficult to dismiss. A resilient house in an isolated village is of limited value if the road to the nearest hospital disappears with the next flood.
Research also shows that flooding creates risks far beyond physical destruction. A 2025 study published in Regional Studies in Marine Science analysed 1,755 drinking-water samples from 10 flood-affected districts of Balochistan. Total coliform contamination exceeded 60 per cent in most districts, reaching 95.2 per cent in Kachi and 93.3 per cent in Jhal Magsi. E. coli and Vibrio cholerae were also detected, highlighting the threat to public health when floods contaminate vulnerable water systems.
Water Brings New Risks
Another study in Scientific Reports, based on 198 pastoral and agro-pastoral households in the Koh-e-Suleiman region, found that community perceptions of floods, rainfall intensity, temperature and warm spells corresponded with observed climate trends with at least 80 per cent accuracy. The findings underline the value of combining local knowledge with scientific information.
Former Director General of the Pakistan Meteorological Department Dr Ghulam Rasul has stressed the importance of community preparedness and early-warning systems.
“It is paramount that when the EWSs are being installed, the community of that area is trained for disaster management,” he said while discussing flood preparedness.
Prof Dr Mukhtiar Ahmed Mahar, a disaster-risk reduction expert at the University of Sindh, has similarly highlighted weaknesses in institutional preparedness and coordination. Discussing the 2022 floods, he stressed the importance of governmental machinery being prepared for “risk mitigation and management”, particularly at the district level where authorities are closest to affected communities.
Communities Know Best
Their observations point to a fundamental lesson for Balochistan: resilience cannot be designed entirely from Quetta or Islamabad. It must be built with communities that know where the water comes from, which road disappears first and which settlement becomes isolated.
The government should therefore move beyond a relief-centred approach towards a permanent provincial resilience strategy.
Every reconstruction programme should prioritise flood-resistant housing for poor households, with transparent beneficiary verification and independent monitoring. Early-warning systems must reach the last village through mobile alerts, local radio, mosques, schools, community volunteers and trained village committees.
Preparing Before Disaster
Roads, bridges, schools and health centres should be designed against future climate risks rather than simply rebuilt to previous specifications. Flood-prone health facilities need emergency medicines, backup power and safe water supplies, while schools require contingency plans to keep children learning when roads or buildings are damaged.
Water deserves equal priority. Protected wells, elevated pumps, chlorination, flood-resilient water schemes and rapid post-flood testing should become standard disaster-preparedness measures.
Protecting Lives and Livelihoods
Livelihoods must also be protected. Farmers and livestock owners need climate-resilient crops, veterinary services, livestock shelters, water-efficient agriculture and access to affordable finance. For daily-wage households, diversified livelihoods can prevent temporary displacement from becoming long-term impoverishment.
Balochistan cannot prevent every extreme rainfall event. But it can decide how vulnerable its people will be when the next one arrives.
The real measure of resilience will not be the number of relief trucks dispatched after a flood. It will be whether a child can reach school, whether a patient can reach a clinic, whether clean water remains available, whether a farmer can protect livestock and whether a family has a safe home to return to.
Resilience Before the Flood
The people of Ghazi, Harnai, Zhob, Khuzdar, Kohlu and Dera Bugti do not need another promise that they will be rescued after the water rises.
They need systems that work before it does.
Because the water will return. The question is whether Balochistan will face it with the same vulnerabilities or with stronger homes, safer infrastructure, reliable services, informed communities and livelihoods capable of absorbing the shock.
That is what climate resilience should ultimately mean: not simply surviving the next flood, but ensuring that every flood does not push another generation deeper into poverty.
The writer is a climate policy and sustainability analyst.
