The Trauma of Temblor: Afghanistan

By Ayanangsha Maitra /

 in Afghanistan, Opinions /

 on Thursday, 30 Jun 2022 

FILE: Afghanistan earthquake

Deep, deep, deep inside earth, the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate and a 6.1 magnitude temblor shook and shocked Afghanistan on June 22. The quake took at least 1,000 lives, leaving several others displaced. Over 10,000 houses were completely or partially damaged. The search for the dear ones from the debris fetched miserable results. In addition to Gayan, Barmala, Naka and Ziruk four districts of Paktika province, Spera district in Khost province was severely affected in the quake. A follow up tremor hit the area hard again on Friday, killing five more people. The disaster has mounted several challenges for the Taliban, who are already tormented by decades-long war, poverty, pandemic, hunger and economic crisis across the nation of 40 million. The disaster has placed Afghanistan once again in global attention for the wrong reason.

Following the quake, over 42 planes and a group of 15 trucks reached the quake-hit areas with housing and food items including rice, oil and flour. The Afghan government announced 100 million afghani, or $1.1 million. The locals started volunteering to collect money to support the affected families.

Despite their chilling political and diplomatic ties, Afghanistan drew immediate response from the countries in the neighbourhood and the west. The Taliban urged the US to unfreeze the foreign funds of Afghanistan and lift the stringent sanctions imposed on them following the deadly earthquake in the country. Qatar, Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Taiwan and Pakistan have extended support to Afghanistan. China announced humanitarian aid worth $7.5 million for the quake-hit nation. The UK announced £2.5 million in aid for Afghanistan. The local staff of the International Federation of the Red Cross facilitated the shelter, medication, water, sanitation, and other basic requirements of the people in Khost and Paktika. The Norwegian Refugee Council served the affected people and provided cash assistance to the affected families.

India responded immediately to stand by the ravaged state. India’s response was prompt and timely. A technical team was sent by India to coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid across Afghanistan. India has sent 27 tons of emergency relief materials including blankets,bags, sleeping mats, tents and sleeping bags. Despite India pulled back her diplomatic missions from Afghanistan, India’s commitment to the people of Afghanistan can be found in her actions.

“India sent next shipment of 3000 MTs of wheat today to Afghanistan. Our commitment to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people remains steadfast. As on date, India has successfully completed shipment of 33,500 MTs of wheat to Afghanistan in partnership with WFP,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated after the quake.

Earlier, India requested Pakistan in October for her land transit facility to send 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan. Islamabad took more than a month to send a positive response on this. India and Pakistan, the two sides arranged the transportation of the aid from India. Fifty trucks carried the first consignment of 2,500 metric tonnes of wheat to Jalalabad in Afghanistan.


“In order to closely monitor and coordinate the efforts of various stakeholders for the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and in continuation of our engagement with the Afghan people, an Indian technical team has reached Kabul today and has been deployed in our Embassy there,” the Ministry of External Affairs of India said in a statement.

India has affirmed that her commitment towards Afghanistan will be guided by its “historical friendship and special relationship with the people of Afghanistan.” On June 2, an Indian delegation led by Indian envoy JP Singh visited Kabul to monitor delivery operations of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. The delegation inspected the sites of Indian projects including Indira Gandhi Children Hospital, Habibia High School, Chimtala sub-power station and the food grain distribution center of WFP. India has signed an agreement with WFP for fair distribution of its 50,000 MT of wheat among the Afghans.

While in Kabul, J.P. Singh called on Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaki and Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai. India refrained from dealing with Taliban directly but India held a dialogue with Taliban formally last year on 31 August 2021. Indian Ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, called on Stanikzai, then incharge of Taliban’s Political Office in Doha.

Seismic waves created the Himalayas or the Hindu Kush. And the same waves turned lively villages of Patika into debris. Such Seismic movements may cause enormous destruction in Afghanistan in future. Located in the Hindu Kush region, Afghanistan is earth-quake prone. In this location, the Arabian, Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Prior to the quake, Taliban, the incumbent in Kabul was inundated by several challenges.

The disaster has mounted more challenges before the Taliban. The administration in Kabul has reasons to worry and measures to take.

AUTHOR

Ayanangsha Maitra is a freelance journalist and PhD researcher. He writes for Khaama Press from India and tweets @Ayanangsha

PAKISTAN

Mountain villages fight for future as melting glaciers threaten floods

Tariq Jamil, 51, chair of the Community Based Disaster Risk Management Centre, walks with a hiking stick to check the ice on the Shisper glacier, near Hassanabad village, Hunza valley, in the Karakoram mountain range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, on October 10 2023.
Image: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

24 November 2023 - BY CHARLOTTE GREENFIELD

On the steep slope of a glacier jutting through the Hunza valley in Pakistan's mountainous far north, Tariq Jamil measures the ice's movement and snaps photos. Later, he creates a report that includes data from sensors and another camera installed near the Shisper glacier to update his village an hour's hike downstream.

The 51-year-old's mission: mobilise his community of 200 families in Hassanabad, in the Karakoram mountains, to fight for a future for their village and way of life, increasingly under threat from unstable lakes formed by melting glacier ice.

When glacial lakes overfill or their banks become unsound, they burst, sparking deadly floods that wash out bridges and buildings and wipe out fertile land throughout the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan mountain ranges that intersect in northern Pakistan.

Himalayan glaciers are on track to lose up to 75% of their ice by the century's end due to global warming, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

After all the sensors are installed, village representatives will be able to monitor data through their mobiles, Jamil said. “Local wisdom is very important: we are the main observers. We have witnessed many things.”

Hassanabad is part of the UN-backed Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) II project to help communities downstream of melting glaciers adapt.

Amid a shortfall in funding for those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, village residents say they urgently need increased support to adapt to threats of glacial lake floods.

“The needs are enormous,” said Karma Lodey Rapten, Regional Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Pakistan is the only country to receive adaptation funding from the Green Climate Fund — the Paris Agreement's key financing pot — to ease the risk of such floods.

While countries like Bhutan have worked with other funders to minimise the threat from glacial lake floods, the $36.96m (R697.94m) GLOF II scheme — which ends in early 2025 — is a global benchmark for other regions grappling with this threat, including the Peruvian Andes and China.

Since 2017, weather stations as well as sensors measuring rainfall, water discharge, and river and lake water levels have been installed under the administration of Islamabad and UNDP. GLOF II has deployed speakers in villages to communicate warnings, and infrastructure like stone-and-wire barriers that slow floodwater.

In Hassanabad, a villager regularly monitors the feed from a camera installed high up the valley for water levels in the river by the glacier's base during risky periods such as summer, when a lake dammed by ice from Shisper glacier often forms.


Pakistan is among the world's most at-risk countries from glacial lake floods, with 800,000 people living within 15km of a glacier. Many residents of the Karakorams built their homes on lush land along rivers running off glaciers.

In neighbouring India in October, floods probably triggered by a partial glacial lake burst in the Himalayas, following an avalanche and heavy rains, likely killed 179 people. Many remain missing. An early warning system was being installed near the lake, but it had not been completed.

DEADLY RISKS

As many as 15-million people worldwide are at risk of glacial lake flooding, with 2-million of them in Pakistan, according to a February study published in scientific journal Nature Communications.

From 2018 to 2021, about 14 GLOFs occurred in Pakistan, but that spiked to 75 in 2022, according to UNDP.

Jamil's village had close calls from floods, according to residents and officials. Over the past three years, residents repeatedly evacuated just in time to avoid loss of life, and many fear a flood while they sleep. Others struggle financially as their land and homes were destroyed, most recently in 2022.

In Chalt village, a few hours away, a torrent of black water rushed down the valley last year. Zahra Ramzan's 11-year-old son Ali Mohammad was swept away.

“I'm in very deep grief. I could not see my son again, even a body,” said the 40-year-old.

The village has had little information about the risks, residents said. Ramzan gets nervous whenever there is heavy rain or flooding, refusing to allow her surviving children out of sight.

In Hassanabad, Jamil is trying to manage these risks. He and 23 other volunteers have trained in first aid and evacuation planning. They monitor the glacier and consult with outside experts and officials each summer.

They are hoping to receive international financing for 20 times the length of barrier wall than is currently funded. They also want interest-free loans to rebuild destroyed homes and adapt their housing with stronger material, as well as better mobile reception to access the monitoring feed.

PLEA FOR ADAPTATION FUNDING

With the UN's COP28 climate summit scheduled to begin on November 30, pressure is ramping up on wealthy countries to fulfil promises to help developing nations.

The Green Climate Fund said in October it had raised $9.3bn (R175.62bn), short of its $10bn (R188.84bn) target.

Wealthy nations are set to meet a broader $100bn (R1.89-trillion) climate finance pledge to developing countries this year, three years late and short of the actual needs, estimated by the UN at over $200bn (R3.78-trilion) annually by 2030.

ICIMOD said changes driven by global warming to glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region are “largely irreversible.” The region has over 200 glacial lakes considered dangerous.

Darkut village, also part of GLOF II, sits surrounded by mountains and glaciers above verdant plains where yaks graze. At the bottom of nearby Darkut Glacier lies a deep turquoise lake.

“Until 1978 ... this whole place was a glacier, the pool of water came later,” said 75-year-old Musafir Khan, pointing at the lake that formed as the glacier receded.

Unlike the ice-dammed lake at Shisper, Darkut is formed in the soil and rock landscape left by a receding glacier.

In northern Pakistan, such moraine-dammed lakes are linked to comparatively few GLOFs, according to ICIMOD researcher Sher Muhammad, but in other parts of mountainous Asia they have been associated with higher casualty rates than ice-dammed lakes.

The risks of both types of lakes may increase, Muhammad said.

Muhammad Yasin, an environmental sciences graduate researcher at Karakorum International University, is studying the extent to which Darkut glacier is melting.

“We have [told] the community that risk factors exist in this lake, you should be aware of this,” he said.

Many families have left over the years after previous flash floods, said Khan, who was born in the remote village, but hundreds rebuilt nearby.

In Hassanabad, the prospect of moving also fills many with disbelief. Their families have lived off orchard fields surrounded by soaring mountains for 400 years, growing produce and grazing livestock high in the plains. Many say they have no resources to move from the village, where their ancestors are buried.

“If the flood will cut us off, we will miss the nature of this village, our neighbours and relatives,” said Tehzeeb, Jamil's 15-year-old daughter.

“Like a bird in a cage,” Jamil said of moving to a city. He was open to exploring the option, but said he would focus on keeping the village alive.

“It's my responsibility to prevent the community from (facing) any disaster.”

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/11/pakistan-facing-melting-glaciers.html

The Kalash People: The Lost Blonde Hair and Blue Eye Tribe of Alexander the Great in Pakistan

by Moe |  LOST ARYAN TRIBE LIKE THE YAZEDI

In the back country of Pakistan, you will find a unique ancient tribe of people who reside in the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. What makes them unique to most Pakistanis is the fact that many people in the tribe have blonde hair and blue eyes. Let me also add that they claim to descend from Greece in the time of Alexander the Great.

It is no secret that Alexander the Great had conquered these lands over 2,000 year ago and had occupied the mountains of northern Pakistan in which he would sow the seeds of a tribe that lives on to this very day. Many experts, scientists and authors agree that the Kalash Tribes shows all the signs, rites, history and possibly the DNA of the ancient Greeks.

For example, in 2014, the New York Times reported that “The Kalash people of Pakistan were found to have chunks of DNA from an ancient European population. Statistical analysis suggests a mixing event before 210 B.C., possibly from the army of Alexander the Great.” Here is a DNA map from the NY Times article showing the possible influx of DNA into the Pakistani region.

A recent study prepared by Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University English Language Department assistant professor Elisavet Mela-Athanasopoulou shows the common elements shared by the language of the Kalash ethnic group in the Himalayas and Ancient Greek. The study proved common elements shared by Kalash language and Ancient Greek.

Who are the Kalash?

The Kalasha (Kalasha: Kaĺaśa, Nuristani: Kasivo) or Kalash, are a Dardic indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They speak the Kalasha language, from the Dardic family of the Indo-Iranian branch, and are considered a unique tribe among the Indo-Iranian peoples of Pakistan.

There are an estimated 3,000 Kalasha left in this beautiful tribe, and they have maintained their ancient culture and tribal rites for well over 2,000 years. Part of these rites include the making of distilled spirits and smoking marijuana. Rites that would be a death sentence in the religion of Islam. These rites are protected by a fierce tribal leader who enforces strict policies and keeps a watchful eye over his tribe. For example,  a leader of the Kalash, Saifulla Jan, has recently stated, “If any Kalash converts to Islam, they cannot live among us anymore. We keep our identity strong.”

A Kalashi tribal man, Kazi Khushnawaz was recently quoted saying;

“Long, long ago, before the days of Islam, Sikander e Aazem came to India. The Two Horned one whom you British people call Alexander the Great. He conquered the world, and was a very great man, brave and dauntless and generous to his followers. When he left to go back to Greece, some of his men did not wish to go back with him but preferred to stay here. Their leader was a general called Shalakash (i.e.: Seleucus). With some of his officers and men, he came to these valleys and they settled here and took local women, and here they stayed.

We, the Kalash, the Black Kafir of the Hindu Kush, are the descendants of their children. Still some of our words are the same as theirs, our music and our dances, too; we worship the same gods. This is why we believe the Greeks are our first ancestors.”

The Kalash Tribe Connection With the Religion of the Ancient Jews (Phoenicians/HebrewsGreeks)

The tribe dresses in what can be called traditional old orthodox Jewish-style. Kalasha women usually wear long black robes,

often embroidered with cowrie shells. The children wear their hair in orthodox Jewish-style ringlets and sport bright coloured topi hats. The women sometimes have tattooed faces, wear long black robes with colored embroidery.

The Kalash have no telephone, cars or modern amenities. They make their own bread, clothing, and live from agriculture. They celebrate a week-long Chamos festival with lots of singing, dancing, ritual, feasting and even the sacrifice of a goat.

During this time, the God Balomain (Baal) passes through the valley collecting prayers. Giant bonfire are lit on hills and torches carried by tribal members in honor of this God. They then dance in circles as they sing and chant around the fire just like can be found with the lost tribes of the American Phoenician Hebrew Indians and with the Irish Phoenician Hebrew in Ireland.

The Guardian reported in 2005 that they were a lost tribe who struggles for survival. Here is a quote from the article;

“Turquoise streams rush through leafy glades of giant walnut trees and swaying crops. Clusters of simple houses cling to steep forested slopes. Compared with many compatriots beyond their valleys, the Kalasha are charmingly liberal: drinking wine, holding dancing festivals and worshipping a variety of gods. Women wear intricately beaded headdresses, not burkas, and may choose their husband.”

“For me, the Kalasha are heroes, because they have reached the 21st century still living like their fathers,” said Athanasius Lerounis, a 50-year-old schoolteacher from Athens supervising construction of the centre, which is due to open next month. “We want to help them preserve that.”

In my many other articles on the Lost Tribes such as the Lost Tribe of Judah Found: The Scattered Children of Bab-El, Lost Tribe of Judah Found: The Bedas, and The American Indians and Phoenician Hebrews: 10 Commandments Found in Arizona I detail that many of these same traits such as the dress, food customs, religious rites and tattoos that is common in almost every single tribe that I have researched.

These tribes can be found all over the world from Egypt to India and all the way to Ireland and England in places such as Kent that was once known as the Old Kingdom of Jute which was originally Juteland or the land of the Jutes. Jutland, is regarded as Judah’s land.  An adjective for Jute is “Jutish,” pronounced jootish. Kent is an early medieval kingdom said to be founded in the 5th century, in what is now South East England. Julius Caesar invaded the area in 55 and 54 BC, and he referred to the kings here as kings of Cantium.

How did the Kalash maintain their tribal rites and religious customs for over 2,000 years?

Even though the Kalash have kept their culture and maintained their tribal rites, many tribal members have been forcibly converted to Islam by the sword under penalty of death. The remaining tribal members are only the result of being isolated in the Pakistan mountains where they could escape and hide from Islamic crusaders. Professor of Islamic studies, U. Mass Dartmouth; and author, Brian Glyn Williams had recently written and article in the Huffington Post titled, The Lost Children of Alexander the Great: A Journey to the Pagan Kalash People of Pakistan. In it he writes;

“High in the snow-capped Hindu Kush on the Afghan-Pakistani border lived an ancient people who claimed to be the direct descendants of Alexander the Great’s troops. While the neighboring Pakistanis were dark-skinned Muslims, this isolated mountain people had light skin and blue eyes. Although the Pakistanis proper converted to Islam over the centuries, the Kalash people retained their pagan traditions and worshiped their ancient gods in outdoor temples. Most importantly, they produced wine much like the Greeks of antiquity did. This in a Muslim country that forbade alcohol.

Tragically, in the 19th century the Kalash were brutally conquered by the Muslim Afghans. Their ancient temples and wooden idols were destroyed, their women were forced to burn their beautiful folk costumes and wear the burqa or veil, and the entire people were converted at swordpoint to Islam. Only a small pocket of this vanishing pagan race survived in three isolated valleys in the mountains of what would later become Pakistan.”

A 2009 article in the Telegraph explains how this tribe was also recently the targets of the conservative Islamic militant group known as the Taliban. The Telegraph had written:

“The group, believed to be descendants of Alexander the Great’s invading army, were shielded from conservative Islam by the steep slopes of their remote valleys.

While Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians were slowly driven out of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province by Muslim militants, the Kalash were free to drink their own distilled spirits and smoke cannabis.

But the militant maulanas of the Taliban have finally caught up with them and declared war on their culture and heritage by kidnapping their most devoted supporter.

Taliban commanders have taken Professor Athanasion Larounis, a Greek aid worker who has generated £2.5 million in donations to build schools, clinics, clean water projects and a museum.

They are now demanding £1.25 million and the release of three militant leaders in exchange for his safe return.

According to local police, it was Professor Larounis’s dedication to preserving Kalasha culture that Taliban commanders in Nuristan, on the Afghan side of the border that made him a target.

Confirmation of the Taliban’s role in his kidnapping came as their leader Mullah Omar urged American and Nato leaders to learn from the history of Alexander the Great’s invasion of Afghanistan and his defeat by Pushtun tribesmen in the 4BC.”

More research and videos of the Kalash

Kalash Religion –

Harvard University

by M Witzel

Kalash Religion. (Extract from: The Ṛgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and. Hindukush Antecedents. A. Griffiths & J.E.M. Houben (eds.). The Vedas:.

Pakistan’s polytheistic Kalash tribe threatened with death by Taliban

The Guardian

Feb 13, 2014 – Video released by Taliban calls on Sunnis to join fight against Kalashpeople and moderate Ismaili Muslims in Chitral valley.

PAKISTAN

Glacial outburst sweeps away two bridges in Chitral's Garam Chashma area

Sirajuddin Published June 30, 2022 

A still of the glacial lake outburst flood crashing through a wooden suspension bridge on Thursday.—DawnNewsTV


Two suspension bridges near the Arkari village in the Garam Chashma area of Chitral were swept away by a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) on Thursday.

GLOFs are sudden events, which can release millions of cubic metres of water and debris, leading to loss of lives, property and livelihoods among remote and impoverished mountain communities.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa confirmed the development, adding that teams have been dispatched to the area to help locals who used the bridges to cross a storm drain flowing underneath.

Footage aired on Dawn News TV showed fast-flowing flood waters tearing through one of the bridges.

Chitral PDMA focal person Rasheed Khan told Dawn.com that so far no loss of life or damage to any other infrastructure has been reported. The floods, however, damaged wheat and other fruit crops in the area, he added.

The PDMA, Khan went on, has been in constant contact with the district administration and was monitoring the situation in the area.

Separately, in a statement, PDMA DG Sharif Hussain said that the control room in the area is fully operational. "Residents can call on our helpline 1700 in case of any emergency or untoward incident," he added.

Last month, a similar incident took place when Hassanabad bridge on the Karakoram Highway in Hunza was destroyed and swept away in a GLOF event. Authorities had said that the glacier melted because of intense heat.

In April, Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman had cautioned that due to an increase in regional temperatures, there was a possibility of glacial lake outburst flood events and flash floods in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In an advisory note, the ministry had issued an official warning to the organisations concerned, drawing their attention to the possible occurrence of GLOF and flash floods in the GB and KP regions, with the direction to take precautionary actions in an effective and timely manner to prevent any losses.
Heavy rains predicted in KP

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast heavy monsoon rains in the province from yesterday. The showers are expected to last till the first week of July.

The Met Office said moist currents from Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal were likely to enter the upper parts of Pakistan which may intensify and expand to southern parts of the country by the end of this week.

Under the influence of this system, rain-windstorm/thundershower is expected in Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Battagram, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Orakzai, Kurram, Mohmand, and Bajaur.

The authorities have been instructed to take all precautionary measures and remain vigilant as heavy rains could trigger flash floods and landslides. The department has also advised tourists to stay "extra-cautious" during their journey and avoid unnecessary travel.

In GB, hope evaporates as glaciers melt faster and faster

Jamil Nagri Published May 2, 2022

CRACKS have appeared in the Hoper glacier in Nagar district this summer.—Dawn

GILGIT: With glaciers melting faster than before, Gilgit-Baltistan residents in some areas live under the constant threat of a natural disaster.

Those living in downstream areas and near lakes and rivers are most vulnerable, particularly those near Shisper and Hoper glaciers.

Glaciers in the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges have melted rapidly, creating thousands of glacial lakes in the country’s northern areas.

Around 30 of these lakes are at risk of sudden hazardous flooding, known as glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), the climate change ministry said earlier this week, adding that around seven million people were vulnerable.

In the Hassanabad village of Hunza Valley, the vast Shisper glacier dominates the landscape, heading towards villagers at an estimated speed of around four metres per day.

Climate change is causing most glaciers worldwide to shrink, but due to a meteorological anomaly, this is one of a few in the Karakoram mountain range that are surging.

This means hundreds of tonnes of ice and debris are pushing down the valley at ten times the normal rate or more, threatening the safety of the people and homes below.

According to an assessment report of the Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA), the Shisper glacier started to surge in May 2018.

The unusual surge blocked water flow from a stream originating in the nearby Muchuhur glacier, which normally falls into Hunza River at Hassanabad, thus forming an artificial lake.

According to the GBDMA assessment, the possible lake burst could submerge a portion of Karakoram Highway, a bridge, over 37 houses in Hassanabad, two powerhouses, a Frontier Works Organisation camp office and vast fertile lands. It may also block the flow of Hunza River, triggering an Attabad-like disaster.

The water discharge from the dammed lake increases in summer when glacier melting starts.

‘Govt indifferent’

Tariq Jamil, a resident of Hassanabad valley, told Dawn that hundreds of kanals of fertile land, trees, homes, a powerhouse and water channels along with Hassanabad nullah were damaged by high water flow last summer.

“Three families were displaced when their homes located near the nullah were damaged last year when water eroded land,” he said. “The government has failed to provide alternative arrangements to people living in the red zone.”

In summer, residents live in constant fear as water discharge increases, he said, adding that this time around, water discharge had increased even before the season started.

Another resident, Amjad Ali, said the people of Hassanabad were at risk of dammed glacier lake outbursts.

He agreed that water discharge from the dammed lake was high this season. “If heatwaves continue in the next months, an outburst of the dammed lake or high water flows are feared, resulting in floods,” he said, adding that he was unsatisfied with the arrangements to protect the lives and property of local people.

According to the local administration, a contingency plan had been prepared to cope with an emergency.

Officials said work was under way to channelise the nullah and construct protective walls to control the excessive flow of water.

Besides, the administration was monitoring the daily movement of the glacier and has set up an automatic weather station and rebuilt irrigation channels.

Hoper glacier

Likewise, the unusual surge of an 18km-long Hoper glacier in Nagar district also gives residents nightmares.

Ahmed Hussain, a resident, told Dawn that the speed of Hoper melting had increased this season.

The height of the glacier has decreased, crevasses have appeared and the sound of falling ice can be heard. Several lakes have also formed in the glacier.

Residents of Hoper valley have to cross the glacier to access the other side. However, the recent glacial movement has blocked trekking paths, making the exercise extremely dangerous. A local resident recently got injured while crossing the glacier.

Mr Hussain said the surging Hoper glacier had also destroyed many tourist destinations and adversely impacted the ecology, reducing the snow leopard and Markhor population in the recent past.

Another resident, Dr Sajjad Hussain, told Dawn that Hoper was one of the rare glaciers in the world situated downside of human settlement and cultivated land.

He said it was alarming that the glacier started moving at an unusual speed this summer.

He regretted that the possible threats from the glacial surge to local people had never been discussed and the government had yet to take steps to mitigate the potential threats and or even make locals aware of them.

Shahzad Shigri of the GB Environmental Protection Agency told Dawn that possible heatwaves could affect the speed of melting glaciers across the region.

He said snow received in winter at peaks — particularly in Astore, Diamer and Ghizer — started melting rapidly, creating flash floods and thus endangering people living in downstream areas.

Mr Shigri said heatwaves could cause GLOFs or make active glaciers slip, leading to major disasters.

Glacier central

Pakistan has more glaciers than any other country outside the polar region – nearly 5,300 in the Karakoram, Himalayan and Hindu Kush ranges, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

They feed the Indus River system, the country’s water lifeline. But data gathered over the last 50 years shows that almost all glaciers exhibit signs of melting due to rising temperatures.

As the glaciers retreat, they leave behind lakes supported by ice dams or accumulations of rock and soil. Inherently unstable, these dams often burst, sending huge volumes of water rushing into the villages below them.

Environmental experts say GB residents are particularly at risk from glacial melting.

In July 2018, a small glacier melt had swollen Barsuwat Nullah in the Ishkoman valley of Ghizer district, creating an artificial lake and blocking the flow of the Immit River.

The water submerged more than 30 houses, cultivated land, a link road and cattle farms and washed away over a dozen vehicles in upstream areas.

On Jan 4, 2010, a massive landslide buried the village of Attabad, destroying 26 houses and killing 20 people. The landslide dammed Hunza River and formed Attabad lake.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2022