Illegal logging and deforestation have compounded the flooding disaster in Pakistan, where heavier than normal rains during the monsoon have wreaked havoc on large areas of the country. Experts blame Pakistan’s “timber mafia” for stripping hillsides of trees and vegetation that would have helped absorb some of the rainfall. Instead, harvested logs were left to pile up in narrow valleys and subsequently were washed downstream, turning already swollen rivers into battering rams that smashed into bridges and buildings. The toll of the destruction so far is 8,000 schools partially or completely destroyed, 54 villages swept away, 1,600 dead and six million homeless.