Pakistan, July 8 -- The monsoon has returned and so has the death toll. At least 64 lives have been lost in the past week alone, swept away by flash floods and torrential rains that were forecast well in advance. What should trigger a national alarm now plays out with grim regularity.

Each year, warnings are issued; each year, the state remains unprepared. The outcome is depressingly familiar: loss, displacement, and grief; borne most heavily by those already on the margins.

We have been here before. The floods of 2022 submerged a third of the country. Millions were displaced. The economic losses ran into billions.

And yet, two years later, Pakistan remains just as exposed. Promised flood defences remain incomplete. Drainage systems ar...