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wo weeks after the devastating floods, the lush green valleys of Pir Baba and Bayshonai in Buner district still resemble a disaster zone. Sirens of ambulances echo through the narrow mountain roads, rushing from one emergency to another. Across the valleys, government workers and volunteers shovel mud and clear the heavy debris left behind on streets, in homes and in the seasonal streams that had turned into rivers of destruction.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, since August 15, at least 406 people have lost their lives; another 245 have been injured. Buner district alone accounts for 237 of the fatalities.
In Bayshonai, the most severely hit valley, relief operations dominate every corner. As soon as one enters the valley, dozens of medical and food camps come into view. Doctors and paramedics are working tirelessly, tending to women, men and children, many bearing deep wounds or infections from the floods. Large cauldrons of food simmer in camp kitchens, feeding hundreds of flood affected people and volunteers. Along the mountain road, police and army soldiers regulate the flow of aid trucks, ambulances and the crowds of volunteers pouring into the area.
The relief effort has brought together hundreds of people. Rescue 1122 teams, Civil Defence scouts, university students, local organisations and members of Al-Khidmat Foundation work side by side. Medical camps, ration distribution points and kitchens serving cooked meals have been set up. Some of these are run by the government, others by various charities. Both state institutions and NGOs are striving to provide every possible form of assistance to those who lost their homes and loved ones.
Bayshonai valley was the worst-affected. The scale of loss, both human and material, is huge. The locals are still in grief. Strangely, volunteers and outsiders now outnumber the actual residents. Some of the families who lost loved ones are too traumatised to face visitors. Many whose homes collapsed have sought refuge with relatives elsewhere. Whole villages lie abandoned, their silence broken only by the rush of water and the rumble of bulldozers clearing the rubble.
Walking through the ruins, one sees collapsed concrete houses, broken walls and crumbled roofs bearing witness to the unimaginable force of the flood. Gigantic boulders rest in the streambed. Residents say that before the flood, there were hardly any stones in the channel. It now resembles a riverbed of rocks carried down by the furious current. The sight is terrifying, a reminder of how nature reshaped the valley within minutes.
The disaster began on the morning of August 15, when torrential rains pounded the mountains. The seasonal streams of Bayshonai and Qader Nagar swelled into raging rivers almost instantly. Water and rocks thundered down, destroying everything in their path. Dozens of people were swept away in the Bayshonai stream alone.
One of the survivors, Muhammad Ali, 65, took us into what was once his hujra. Some of the walls had collapsed. Water stains still marked the surviving rooms. Nine members of his family had perished in the flood. A patient with high blood pressure had to take medicine before speaking about that morning. “I cannot recall that day without pain,” he said quietly.
Ali explained how the torrential downpour terrified his family. “The children and women were already crying because of the thunder and the roar of the water,” he recalled. “I was trying to calm them when the terrible news arrived: our relatives had been swept away.” His voice broke as he recounted the scene. Tears rolled down his face and he struggled to continue. “Those who were outside were taken by the flood immediately. Those of us who had been indoors rushed uphill, carrying children on our backs.”
Bayshonai valley was the worst-affected. The scale of loss, both human and material, is huge. The locals are still in grief. Strangely, volunteers and outsiders now outnumber the residents.
Ali lost two brothers that day, along with seven other family members. One young girl remains missing. Four family homes were destroyed. For him, the flood was not just a natural disaster but the end of an entire branch of his family tree.
He remembered another chapter in Bayshonai’s troubled history. After the military operation against militants in Buner in 2009, the residents had slowly returned and rebuilt their homes. Over the past fifteen years, the population had gown and new houses were constructed along both sides of the streams. “We thought life had finally become normal,” Ali said. “But this flood has destroyed everything again.”
Just three kilometers from Bayshonai lies the bustling Pir Baba bazaar, built along the edge of another seasonal stream. Shops owned by both Muslims and Sikhs line the market. The Sikh community has lived and traded here for centuries.
The Qader Nagar stream runs downhill and passes near the shrine of the revered Sufi adept Pir Baba. On its way, the torrent ripped through Qader Nagar village before crashing into Pir Baba bazaar. Miraculously, no lives were lost there, but almost every shop was flooded. Goods worth billions of rupees were washed away within minutes. For local traders, it was a catastrophe.
Among the shopkeepers is Rehman Gul, 43, who owns a shoe and kitchenware store. When we met him, he stood inside his empty shop, its walls still marked by the high-water line. The mud had been cleared, but the smell of stagnant water and rotting debris lingered. Neighbouring shopkeepers were still cleaning their shelves and floors. Pools of water remained, giving a foul odour.
“The flood reached here at around 11 in the morning,” Gul recalled. “In just ten minutes, the whole market was underwater. We managed only to save ourselves. Everything else was gone.”
The timing was cruel. Just a day earlier, Gul had stocked his shop with Rs 1 million worth of shoes purchased from Batkhela in Malakand district. All of it was washed away, along with utensils and other goods. He estimated his losses at around Rs 2 million.
He vividly remembered the chaos. “The rain was so heavy that all communication networks went down. No phones were working. It was only the wireless sets of the police that warned us. Without that, many more lives would have been lost.”
For Muhammad Ali, Rehman Gul and hundreds of others, August 15 will forever remain a day when the mountains roared, the waters rose and life as they knew it was carried away.
While survivors struggle with grief and loss, government officials highlight the scale of the relief effort. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Finance Adviser, Muzzammil Aslam, announced that the provincial government had released more than Rs 6.5 billion for relief. “The compensation was delivered to victims within ten days,” he said. “It shows the government’s swift response and effective governance.”
Information Adviser Barrister Dr Saif shared details about the compensation being provided to affected families. According to him, Rs 664 million has been distributed among 332 affected families, including Rs 342 million to the heirs of 171 victims from Buner alone. Another Rs 20 million has been provided to the injured.
“Owners of the destroyed houses have been paid a total of Rs 58 million in compensation through a new digital application. Other flood victims are being given Rs 15,000 each in the form of food stamps,” Saif added.
The writer is amultimedia producer. He tweets daudpasaney