Pakistan is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on Earth outside the poles. Rising global temperatures linked to climate change are causing the glaciers to rapidly melt, creating thousands of glacial lakes
This aerial picture taken on June 10, 2022, shows Passu glacier near Passu village in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region. Pakistan is home to more than 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on Earth outside the poles. Rising global temperatures linked to climate change are causing the glaciers to rapidly melt, creating thousands of glacial lakes. Photo by Abdul MAJEED / AFP
Hassanabad, Pakistan: As dawn broke over Javed Rahi's Pakistani mountain village, a loud boom shattered the silence and a torrent of water came cascading down from the melting glacier nearby, followed by a thick cloud of smoke.
Rahi, a retired maths teacher, had been due to attend his nephew's wedding the day the flood rushed through the village of Hassanabad.
"I expected women and children to sing and dance... Instead I heard them screaming in terror," the 67-year-old said.
"It was like doomsday."
The flood—which occurred as a heatwave was gripping South Asia in May—swept away nine homes in the village and damaged half a dozen more.