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BUNER, Aug 26 (APP):Amid the rubble and haunting silence left by the devastating floods in Buner, a faint but steady clinking of stones rises through the stillness. It’s the sound of resilience and steadfast courage of a man, who refused to surrender to despair.
Hussain Ali, a 48-year-old resident of Pir Baba in Buner district, is started rebuilding his life brick by brick and stone by stone. With no significant aid yet in sight, no heavy machinery, and no professional tools, he is salvaging stones, bricks, wood, and whatever he can find to reconstruct his house destroyed by the August 15 flash floods, forcing his family to live in a tent.
“I have no money. But I have these strong hands,” Hussain says, lifting a dust-covered, sun-burnt palm. “I can’t wait forever. My children need a roof before harsh winter.”
Just weeks ago, torrential monsoon rains unleashed floods across the district, destroying homes, roads, bridges, agriculture, livestock and livelihoods. Dozens of families were displaced and hundreds lost everything after the natural calamity struck, affecting Buner badly.
For Hussain, the disaster erased years of hard work in a matter of minutes. His modest five-marla stones made house built through grit, labour, and small savings was reduced to rubble, luckily his family survived.
“I saw the flood water coming like a wall,” he recalls. “There was no time to save our house luggage. We just ran.” He, his wife, and their four children survived, but their home, livestock, wheat stock, and belongings were all disappeared in a jiffy.
Now, every morning, Hussain walks kilometers through nearby areas, gathering usable bricks and broken wood—some from the remains of his own house, others donated by neighbors who’ve lost even more.
He stacks them under a large plastic tent sheet—his only shelter for now. There’s no cement, no formal map, just a dream ie four walls and a roof. “I will build slowly, even if it takes months,” he says. “Something is better than nothing.”
While the government and NGOs have pledged support, much of the highland aid is slow due to washed-out roads, landslides, and the scale of destruction.
Local community organizer Mohammad Farooq admitted the situation is dire in Buner, urging philanthropists for immediate help. “People like Hussain are falling through the cracks. Aid is coming, but it’s too little, too late. But it’s inspiring how some aren’t waiting. They are acting. They’re surviving.”
Hussain’s humble effort has become a quiet inspiration for others flood victims. Some neighbors help when they can sharing food, lifting stones, or offering encouragement. “I am not the only one,” Hussain says, glancing at the muddy hills. “There are many like me who just want to live again.”
Far from Pir Baba, in the flood-ravaged region of Shangla, where landslides and washed-out bridges have isolated entire villages, another story of resilience and great courage was unfolded.
Federal Minister Engineer Amir Muqam made an arduous journey through mountainous terrain to reach cut-off communities on foot in Shangla. With roads gone and helicopters unavailable, he tightened his shoelaces and began the steep climb, determined to stand with the flood victims, not above them.
“We thought we were alone,” said an elderly villager Hamza Khan, his voice trembling with emotion. “But today, our minister crossed rivers and mountains just for us. This feels like a miracle, raising our moral.”
Instead to stand on a podium or deliver long speeches, Engr Amir Muqam sat on the ground, held hands and listened to flood victims. His message was simple, “You are not alone. We will rebuild together not with promises, but with strong action.”
Children followed him in awe, and elders raised hands in prayer. For the first time, locals said, a federal minister had walked their broken paths during difficult time. “This wasn’t politics rather it was a leadership,” Hamza remarked.
Following his visit, Engineer Muqam appealed for immediate national and international aid, emphasizing the scale of devastation of floods in Pakistan especially in KP.
“Thousands have lost their homes, livestock and agriculture produces. Critical infrastructure in flood hit Malakand division is gone,” he said. “We urgently need coordinated relief and rehabilitation efforts and International NGOs assistance will be highly welcome.”
He called on NGOs and global partners for help in rebuilding homes, restoring livelihoods, and rehabilitating schools, roads, and health centers.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has directed district administrations to expedite compensation payments to flood victims. By Sunday, payments must be completed for the families of the deceased, injured, and those whose homes and shops were damaged.
Rs100,000 per household has been approved for cleaning flood-inundated homes and an additional Rs 5 billion released to PDMA for relief and rehabilitation efforts.
So far, 410 deaths and 247 injuries confirmed in KP, compensation of Rs 2 million paid to 332 families of deceased and 43 households compensated for fully destroyed homes, 526 link roads, 106 bridges, 326 schools, 38 health centers, and 2,808 shops damaged.
As the sun dips behind the battered hills of Pir Baba in Buner, the silhouette of a man stacking bricks by hand rises against he evening sky.
In a place flattened by floods, Hussain’s determination is more than a survival story. It’s a quiet revolution built with bare hands, stubborn hope, and the belief that even after devastation, life can be rebuilt. In the silence left by disaster, it is men like Hussain and leaders like Engr Amir Muqam, who walk beside them who remind us what true resilience and courage looks like to go through from difficult phase of life.