In Pakistan, torrential rains have killed 266 people, half of them children, since the start of the monsoon season.

Two hundred and sixty-six people have died since the start of the summer monsoon in Pakistan, a government agency announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday, July 25. This latest death toll, particularly heavy and high among children, including 126, in the fifth most populous country in the world, is explained by the fact that "schools and colleges are closed," Mazhar Hussain, the spokesman for the Punjab branch of the Disaster Management Authority, told AFP.

"Children stay at home and are very vulnerable, they play in the water and can be victims of drowning and electrocution," he added.

Many victims also died when their houses collapsed or were swept away by flash floods, while this monsoon season, which started earlier than in other years, is described as "unusual" by the authorities.

Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, recorded 73 percent more rainfall in July than the previous year, Hussain said. The province recorded more deaths (143) in one month than in the entire previous summer season (133). "And this will worsen in August, as Punjab is expected to receive 25 percent more rainfall than normal," Hussain warned. The summer monsoon generally continues until mid-September.

"Many people are swimming in the rivers," he continued, adding that authorities have since imposed a complete ban on swimming and urged people to limit their movements during bad weather. The summer monsoon, which brings 70 to 80 percent of South Asia's annual rainfall between June and September, is vital to the livelihoods of millions of farmers in a region of about 2 billion people.

Pakistan is still struggling to recover from the devastating floods of 2022, which affected nearly a third of its land area and more than 33 million people. Some 1,700 people died and much of the country's harvest was lost.

This country is one of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and its 255 million inhabitants are experiencing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.