ISLAMABAD: The chairman of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned on Wednesday that the 2026 monsoon season is expected to be more intense in the country, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed authorities to start preparations immediately for a potential crisis next year.
Pakistan suffered a deadly monsoon season this year, which saw over 1,000 people killed due to heavy rains and floods since late June. Deadly floods in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province in late August killed over 130, affected over 4.5 million people and washed away large swathes of crops across the province.
Experts attribute Pakistan’s irregular weather patterns, which include floods, droughts and heatwaves to climate change. Pakistan is counted among the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change effects, where authorities say nearly 4,600 people have been killed in floods since 2010.
“We think in the coming days, the 2026 monsoon is expected to be 22-26% more intense compared to this year’s monsoon,” NDMA Chairman Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik told reporters at a news conference.
Malik said this meant glaciers would melt earlier next year or in higher quantity, pointing out that glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and deluges were observed in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, Punjab and the southern Sindh province during 2025.
“Pakistan bore all possible components of the monsoon this year,” Malik said, adding that over 3.1 million people were evacuated from high-risk riverine areas across the country.
PM APPROVES SHORT-TERM PLAN
Separately, Sharif approved a short-term plan by the climate change ministry to induce climate-related losses for the next year’s monsoon, a statement by his office said, directing authorities to begin preparations to implement it immediately.
The prime minister noted that a substantial amount of Pakistan’s GDP has to be spent every three years to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change.
Speaking to reporters alongside Malik, Climate Change Minister Musadik Maik said that as per the short-term plan, the government will fix all dams, embankments and floodgates that were damaged due to the recent floods in Pakistan in late August.
“Whatever damage that has happened in the next 200 days it will be fixed,” Malik said.
He pointed out that the prime minister has also directed authorities to ensure that an integrated early warning system is made functional and implemented in the country.
Malik said at the moment, various government ministries and authorities, such as the Planning Ministry and the NDMA, had their own early warning systems.
He said that as per one automatic and integrated warning system, the people and officials of the area where a natural calamity strikes will be warned first so that they can take precautionary measures before Islamabad is alerted.
“The prime minister has issued an order and told us that you have to do both of these things immediately,” the minister said.
