In the wake of devastating flash floods that have ravaged Pakistan's northern regions, claiming countless lives and destroying livelihoods, a chorus of climate change experts has long warned that the true culprit isn't the fury of nature alone, but our glaring lack of preparedness - a systemic failure that amplifies every disaster into a catastrophe. Nowhere was this more evident than in Buner where, following the initial chaos, local rescuers were left to fend alone until a district administration team arrived not for urgent aid, but merely to tally the mounting losses. Questions linger over the timeliness of warnings, alerts and forecasts, while provincial and national disaster management authorities lagged behind, exposing a profound communication void and delayed response that turned preventable harm into widespread havoc. It becomes clear that we cannot pin the blame on distant developed nations or climate change in isolation; the real tragedy lies in the shortcomings of our own government and civil society infrastructure, from inadequate emergency systems to fragmented coordination, which continue to exacerbate losses in these recurring floods.

In the quiet valleys of Ghizer, a sudden wave of social media posts from government officials and supporters recently claimed that an early warning system saved 200 lives from a glacial flood. Yet, the real hero was a humble shepherd named Wasiyat Khan, who........

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