With just two weeks into April, Pakistan has already been battered by a series of devastating natural events this month. A relentless heatwave, unprecedented hailstorms, destructive windstorms, and unsettling seismic tremors have all come crashing in, one after another. To dismiss these incidents as freak events would be an act of unprecedented naivety. The shrill alarm bells ringing over escalating climate volatility are made all the more unbearable by our persistent inadequacies in disaster preparedness. In Karachi, mercury is predicted to spike above 41°C, and the Met officials have issued warnings of continued heatwave conditions. Every year, we deal with this same nightmare, and yet, hospitals are only now being told to prepare for a surge in heat-related emergencies. Vulnerable communities are the first to suffer, and the state’s reactive approach continues to cost lives. Further north, Islamabad and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were pelted by a freak hailstorm. Hail the size of golf balls smashed through cars, shattered solar panels, destroyed crops, and killed several people. Meanwhile, at least three drowned in a sudden deluge in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where relentless heavy rains triggered devastating flash floods, throwing entire communities into chaos. Adding to this turmoil, unsettling tremors, including a recent 5.9-magnitude earthquake in parts of the country, continue to hit, a stark reminder of the region’s inherent seismic susceptibility. For a nation still haunted by the trauma of 2005, any quake, no matter the size, sends shockwaves far beyond the epicentre. These quakes may not be directly caused by other climate events, their collision with climate disasters deepens the blow. What ties all of this together is not just bad luck. It’s the same story every single time: weak infrastructure, poor planning, and a dangerous lack of preparedness. To effectively address these escalating challenges, Pakistan must urgently develop integrated early warning systems that actually work–a unified platform that leverages real-time data to provide timely and geographically specific alerts. We’ve said it before and Daily Times will dare say it again: we have to stop relying on hope and start investing in stronger buildings, smarter drainage systems, and public awareness efforts that speak to our people in a way they understand and trust. It would take much more than damage control to undo decades of unchecked human exploitation of Mother Nature. Still, as a country battling these changes on the frontline, especially if it’s serious about saving lives, Pakistan needs to stop treating resilience as a buzzword and start focusing on it as policy. *