BUNER
\nUnder the open sky, beside a mound of broken timber and mud-soaked memories, 48-year-old Saad Ullah digs through debris with a hoe in same hands once bundled firewood for customers are now desperately clawing through the wreckage of his life.
\nJust two days ago, a sudden cloudburst over the scenic hills of Bishonai, a small village near Pir Baba in Buner district, unleashed a torrent of water and stones, sweeping away everything in its path.
\nMore than 200 people perished, thousands have been rendered homeless, and the community\u2019s modest economy has been shattered.
\nAmong the hardest flood hit are owners of firewood \u201ctaals\u201d which are traditional open storage yards where dry timber is kept for sale during winter months.
\nLooking for help? Saad Ullah said, \u201cthis taal was my only source of livelihood for family,\u201d he said, wiping tears with the back of a mud-caked hand. \u201cI had stored Rs500,000 worth of firewood here \u2014 all gone.\u201d
\nThat timber, mostly local hardwood from nearby forests, was painstakingly gathered over months for customers ranging from bakeries and tandoors to marriage halls.
\nSaad\u2019s wood was known for its quality, selling at Rs700\u2013800 per 50-kilo mound. With natural gas scarce in winters and LPG prices soaring, firewood is a lifeline for many in Buner.
\nNow, there is nothing left not even the bag of savings Saad had set aside to perform Umrah with his wife next month.
\n\u201cI kept it hidden in cupboard in my stone made house. When I returned after the flood, there was no house luggage left,\u201d he said with breaking voice.
\nDozens of other taal owners in Bishonai and neighboring villages shared a similar fate as their stock washed away in minutes, livelihoods drowned in muddy torrents, thousands families left shelterless. The destruction was very swift, giving villagers no time to react.
\n\u201cWe heard a roaring sound from the mountains, and then it was over us,\u201d recounted Zafar Khan, another wood seller. \u201cAll we could do was run for our lives.\u201d
\nNow, with monsoon rains continuing and winter just months away, the community is staring down a bleak future such as jobless, homeless, and overlooked.
\nEnvironmental experts warned this is not just a freak event but it is the price of unchecked environmental neglect and rampant deforestation mainly due to unemployment and poverty.
\n\u201cClimate change combined with deforestation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has made such flood disasters more frequent and more intense, \u201c said Prof. Dr. Shafiqur Rehman, former Chairman of Environmental Sciences at the University of Peshawar.
\nHe linked recent cloudbursts and flash floods in Malakand and Hazara divisions to the rapid loss of forest cover, especially in private and communal lands besides lack of small dams.
\nPakistan\u2019s total forest area, as per the National Forest Policy 2015, stands at a meager five percent, with nearly 27,000 hectares lost annually. In KP alone, forests have been under pressure due to logging, encroachments, and decades of conflict particularly during the Swat\u2019s unrest during 2008-2009.
\nNiaz Ali, former Chief Conservator of Forests in KP, pointed to overpopulation, poverty, and timber smuggling as major drivers of deforestation and warned if not checked more such floods will occur in future.
\n\u201cIn 1947, our population was 37 million. Today it\u2019s over 223 million and rising. If we don\u2019t adapt alternative energy sources, we will lose what little green cover we have left,\u201d he warned.
\nHe also lamented the long-standing issue of Afghan refugee influx and lack of global support for forest restoration in Afghans inhibited areas in KP.
\nMeanwhile, enforcement efforts existed as the KP Forest Force has powers akin to police and can seize timber, arrest offenders, and even use weapons in self-defense.
\nHowever, former Environment Minister Wajid Ali Khan said the system is still plagued by political distractions and weak implementation of laws.
\n\u201cInstead of focusing on timber mafia and regulating the firewood trade, the previous governments were more invested in political agitation,\u201d he said.
\nDespite the scale of the flood disaster in Buner, residents said that no substantial relief has arrived yet.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s been no compensation, no tents, not even drinking water. We\u2019re burying our dead with borrowed shovels and business shattered,\u201d said another flood affected Jamil Khan, a resident of Pir Baba Buner.
\nHe said two of his wood stalls and marble stores shops were destroyed in the yesterday flood as no relief received from any quarter yet.
\nAs the KP government scrambles to assess damages, many fear their plight will be forgotten in the news cycle and another community swallowed by nature\u2019s fury and bureaucratic inertia.
\nExperts are calling for urgent measures such as construction of new dams, whooping plantation, operationalizing the UN\u2019s COP29 climate fund, flood warnings systems and establishing special forest courts for fast-track prosecution of timber criminals.
\nBut for poor Saad Ullah and others like him, the help can\u2019t come fast enough. \u201cWe don\u2019t want loans or tall promises,\u201d he said, eyes scanning the flattened hillside. \u201cWe just want to rebuild our lives with dignity before the winter comes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUNER Under the open sky, beside a mound of broken timber and mud-soaked memories, 48-year-old Saad Ullah digs through debris with a hoe in same hands once bundled firewood for customers are now desperately clawing through the wreckage of his life. Just two days ago, a sudden cloudburst over the scenic hills of Bishonai, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-497272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n