Pakistan is once again at the mercy of monsoon rains—and of its own faltering institutions. Since June 26th, torrential downpours have claimed more than 650 lives across the country, with dozens more missing. The worst of the devastation has been visited upon Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a rugged, mountainous province bordering Afghanistan, where over 390 people have perished. The true toll is likely higher, with entire communities cut off by landslides and rising waters.

Survivors face a grim aftermath. Makeshift shelters are overcrowded, food and clean water are scarce, and the threat of disease looms. Yet many accuse the authorities of being as absent as the sun. Villagers say they received no warnings before rivers burst their banks and mudslides engulfed homes. In an ill-judged remark emblematic of official detachment, a senior politician suggested that locals ought to have built their homes elsewhere.

Relief efforts have been further hampered by continued rains and impassable roads. Emergency services, already stretched thin, are struggling to reach isolated areas. Pakistan’s response to natural disasters has long been hamstrung by poor planning, underinvestment, and a lack of coordination between federal and provincial bodies. As climate change intensifies the monsoon’s fury, those flaws are becoming ever more deadly.