Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods

By: R.K Baig
Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods- have become a recurring worry for the people of Chitral particularly for those who live in the heavy glacier valleys of upper Chitral. This calamity of global warming hit two valleys of Chitral this summer. This summer experienced GLOF in two valleys of Chitral; the one at Unawich, Yarkhun above the famous
Darband defile and the flood destroyed a large area of the nearby lands including road and bridges. The inhabitants of the said village remained cut off from the rest of the district. After many weeks PTI leadership had the guts to reach the disaster hit area and some relief was offered along with an amount of funds for rebuilding the bridge.
Another GLOF hit the Roshgol valley of Terich UC and destroyed a very large pasture land, countless birch trees, poplars as well as the water channel of a micro hydal power house at Zondrangram. This was some huge lake hidden in the midst of the glaciers of eastern Saraghrar massif of colossal magnitude. The impact of global warming
has started hitting the glaciers at a level that was not known in the past. The intensity of the flood was too great to be described that rose to a record height and carried away everything on both sides of the river. The broken section of the Channel was temporarily repaired by the community concerned but it is still un reliable and it is sorry
to say that the district administration did not budge as usual , no notice was taken of the damages and the inhabitants had to do every repair work with their own hands.