September 13, 2025
By Shereen Karim
GILGIT
The morning mist still clings to the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, but the serenity is deceptive. Beneath the majestic peaks and pristine valleys lies a story of devastation that has shattered hundreds of families and reshaped entire communities. Climate change has arrived since a long time now, in Pakistan’s northernmost region but now it is not a distant threat, but an immediate, destructive one that has left countless lives in ruins.
When nature turns a village into rubble
Rahman Kareem stands amid the rubble of what was once his neighborhood in Dain village, his weathered hands gesturing toward the debris-filled landscape that stretches before him. The destruction is so complete that it’s difficult to imagine this place ever being home to thriving families.
“As you all know, our village of Dain has suffered tremendous devastation from flooding,” Rahman explains, his voice carrying the weight of recent trauma. “More than 20 houses have been damaged. The bridge connecting Dain and Chaturkan has also been swept away by the floods, and communication has been completely cut off.”
Rahman’s story is not unique. Across Gilgit-Baltistan, similar scenes of destruction play out in village after village, each representing not just statistics on a disaster report, but human stories of loss, resilience, and the urgent need for action.
The ripple effect of destruction
In neighboring Ghizer district, the impact of natural disasters has disrupted the very fabric of daily life. Members of the Gilgit Baltistan Awami Action Committee have become the voice of communities struggling to rebuild their shattered existence.
“This is not just the problem of Rawshan village, but the entire population of the area,” explains a committee member, highlighting the widespread nature of the crisis. “Without roads, how can people buy food, drinks, and other necessities from the market? Along with this, drinking water, electricity, and cellular signals are also the biggest problems.”
The cascade of problems reveals how deeply interconnected mountain communities are with their infrastructure. When bridges wash away and roads become impassable, entire regions can become isolated, cutting off access to essential services and supplies that urban populations take for granted.
‘Flood destroyed my house along with my factory’
The human cost of these disasters extends beyond damaged infrastructure to personal livelihoods destroyed in moments. Imtiaz, a local businessman, recalls the day that changed everything for his family.
“The flood that came on August 14th destroyed my house along with my factory,” he recounts, the date etched permanently in his memory. “The machinery was destroyed and the timber also washed away.”
His story represents countless others throughout the region – small business owners, farmers, and artisans whose life’s work was swept away in hours of torrential flooding. For many, the path to recovery seems insurmountable without significant external support
Over a thousand houses destroyed in GB floods
According to reports from the Emergency Operations Center, the period from June 26, 2025, to September 5, 2025, witnessed unprecedented destruction across the region. The statistics paint a sobering picture: 41 lives lost, 52 people injured, and 1,223 houses damaged or destroyed. The districts of Diamer, Ghizer, and Gilgit bore the brunt of both human casualties and property damage.
These numbers, however, tell only part of the story. Behind each statistic lies a family displaced, a community fractured, and economic foundations destroyed. The psychological impact on survivors, particularly children who witnessed their homes and neighborhoods vanish, will likely last far beyond the physical reconstruction efforts.
GB faces severe threats due to climate change
Dr. Farasat Ali, Provincial Project Lead for Gilgit-Baltistan at WWF-Pakistan, provides crucial context for understanding these disasters within the broader framework of climate change.
“Due to climate change, Gilgit-Baltistan faces severe threats,” Dr. Ali explains. “The intensity of Glacier Lake Outburst Floods, cloud bursts, debris falls, and rockfalls has increased, and there are more dangers ahead in the coming days.”
His assessment underscores a critical reality: what communities in Gilgit-Baltistan are experiencing is not a series of isolated natural disasters, but manifestations of accelerating climate change. The region’s unique geography – characterized by high-altitude glaciers, steep valleys, and unstable geology – makes it particularly vulnerable to the warming temperatures that destabilize ice formations and alter precipitation patterns.
The vulnerability of mountain ecosystems
Gilgit-Baltistan sits at the confluence of three major mountain ranges – the Himalayas, Karakoram, and Hindu Kush – earning it the nickname “the roof of the world”. This dramatic topography, while breathtakingly beautiful, creates conditions where small changes in temperature can have cascading effects throughout the ecosystem.
Glacier Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) represent one of the most dangerous consequences of climate change in the region. As temperatures rise, glacial ice melts at accelerated rates, creating unstable glacial lakes. When natural dams containing these lakes fail – often without warning – they release enormous volumes of water and debris downstream, devastating everything in their path.
Cloud bursts, another increasingly common phenomenon, occur when warm, moisture-laden air rises rapidly in mountainous terrain, creating intense, localized precipitation events. These sudden deluges can dump months’ worth of rainfall in hours, overwhelming drainage systems and triggering flash floods and landslides.
Complex longterm challenges
While emergency response efforts focus on immediate needs – shelter, food, medical care, and restoration of basic services – the long-term challenges facing Gilgit-Baltistan are more complex. Climate projections suggest that extreme weather events will become more frequent and severe, requiring fundamental changes in how communities prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
Infrastructure development in the region must now account for climate resilience. Roads, bridges, and buildings need to be designed to withstand more extreme conditions than historical patterns would suggest. Early warning systems for GLOFs and flash floods require significant investment and community education to be effective.
Economic diversification also becomes crucial for communities traditionally dependent on agriculture and tourism, both sectors highly vulnerable to climate disruption. Supporting alternative livelihoods and building economic resilience will be essential for long-term recovery and adaptation.
The interconnected crisis
The floods and their aftermath have revealed how climate change amplifies existing vulnerabilities in mountain communities. Limited access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunities makes recovery more difficult when disasters strike. Geographic isolation, which preserves cultural traditions and natural beauty, becomes a liability when emergency response is needed or when rebuilding requires external resources.
Communication infrastructure, already challenging in mountainous terrain, becomes critical during disasters. When cellular towers are damaged and internet connectivity is disrupted, isolated communities struggle to coordinate rescue efforts, communicate with family members, and access information about relief efforts.
Despite overwhelming challenges, stories of community resilience emerge from the devastation. Neighbors helping neighbors clear debris, families sharing limited resources, and local organizations coordinating relief efforts demonstrate the strength of social bonds that have sustained mountain communities for generations.
Traditional knowledge about local weather patterns, water management, and disaster preparedness, passed down through generations, proves valuable in combination with modern early warning systems and emergency response protocols. Indigenous adaptation strategies, refined over centuries of life in challenging mountain environments, offer insights for developing climate-resilient communities.
The recent natural disasters in Gilgit-Baltistan have made it clear that climate change is not a problem for any single family or village, but a question of the entire region’s future. Affected families like Rahman’s continue to suffer from difficulties, and immediate rehabilitation measures are the greatest need of the time.
However, rebuilding must go beyond restoring what was lost. It requires reimagining how communities in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions can adapt to an increasingly unpredictable future. This means investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, developing early warning systems, supporting economic diversification, and ensuring that the voices and needs of affected communities remain at the center of adaptation planning.