{"id":82262,"date":"2025-08-26T07:37:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T02:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/?p=82262"},"modified":"2025-09-25T22:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T17:24:07","slug":"in-pictures-the-human-and-environmental-toll-of-the-taalidas-flood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pamirtimes.net\/en\/2025\/08\/26\/in-pictures-the-human-and-environmental-toll-of-the-taalidas-flood\/","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: The Human and Environmental Toll of the Taalidas Flood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photostory by Taseer Beyg<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pakistan contributes less than 1% to global emissions, yet it is among the hardest hit by climate change. This year alone, over 739 people have lost their lives in floods and glacial lake outbursts, with Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suffering the worst damage.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I walked through what were once the villages of Raushan and Taalidas. A sudden midnight flash flood had erased nearly everything, more than 140 houses swept away or submerged after the Ghizer River was blocked, creating an artificial lake.<\/p>\n

The villagers survived because two shepherds, watching from the mountains, made a phone call in the dead of night. Their warning saved an entire community.<\/p>\n

As I stood there photographing the aftermath, I felt the weight of silence, the absence of homes, of voices, of ordinary life. For me, as someone from Gilgit-Baltistan, documenting this is not just photography. It is bearing witness to how climate change is reshaping our mountains and our people, faster than we ever imagined.<\/p>\n