It is announced with great sorrow and grief for the information of the jamat, especially Hunzakutch living in across the Europe that on January 4th at about 2 p.m. PST due to sudden landslide, 2 villages of Hunza (Atabad, partially and Sarat with 32 households totally) have been vanished and became into rubbles. 13 bodies have been recovered and dozens are still missing and hundreds became homeless. The Ismaili volunteers, boys scouts, army personnel and people from across Hunza valley and surrounding areas are searching the missing people. Due to fall of heavy boulders and mud, the river of Hunza has been blocked and becoming into a lake, endangering lower parts of Hunza and surrounding areas. Pak army engineers and Chinese engineers have been called in and they are striving to give way to the river.
In this hour of tradegy, we pray that Almighty God bless the departed souls and give the stength to bear this irreparable loss to the berieved families. We also pray for early recovery of the injured and missing people.
The grand funeral ceremony took place in the headquarters of Hunza (Aliabad). The Force Commander Gilgit Baltistan and Director General Disaster Management and thousands of people from across the region took part in the funeral ceremony and Al-Waez Fida Ali Isar, renowned Ismaili scholar graced the funeral ceremony and offered Nimaz-e-Jinaza and offered fateha for the departed souls.
Natural Disaster in Hunza
Hunza landslid:10 persons have been killed and 50 injured
http://www.youtube.com/user/hunzaonline ... m9IroKogLw
At least 10 persons have been killed and 50 injured due to land sliding in Hunza while dozens of houses plunged into Hunza River and Karakoram Highway has been blocked,
several deep cracks were created on the terrain on different places in Attaabad Pain and upper areas of Hunza located on the sidelines of Karakoram Highway. The cracks started widening with sudden noise and a large part of the land started to plunge in Hunza River due to land sliding. The sudden catastrophe did not permit affectees to move to safe places. The Karakoram highway has also been blocked for any kind of traffic due to the land sliding. Rescue activities were underway in the affected area as several people are still caught under debris
The administration has also evacuated around 300 homes of nearby village Sarat. Deputy Commissioner Hunza Zafar Waqar told that rescue activities have been launched in the affected areas while residents are being shifted to safe places.
Hundreds of volunteers belonging to Ismaili Volunteer Corps, trained search and rescue experts of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance, Boys Scouts and local people are working to save lives and dig out people who could be trapped in debris of the landslide at Attabad.
Speaker of GBLA, Wazir Baig, who is also the elected representative of Hunza valley, and technocrat member of GBLA, Mutabiat Shah, have reached Aliabad Hunza to take part in the search and rescue operations.
According to sources emergency imposed in hunza , ten people dead. Fifty missing, Hunza river completely blocked landslide destroyed a number of houses located on a hillside in Atta bad village by Hunza River here on Monday. As many as 26 houses were devastated by the landslide that occurred at 2:00 PM on Monday.
Director General Disaster Management Authority Gilgt-Baltistan, Usman Younis said the rescue and relief activities are being carried out with the help of local volunteers.
Deputy Commissioner Gilgit, Asad Zamin has said that the blockage of river flow has triggered fear of flooding and directed the people living in low-lying areas to move to safer locations.
Village Attaabad has 100 houses located on a hillside in Sarat area of Hunza Tehseel. Many of these houses had cracked as a result of similar landslide 3 years ago.
At least 10 persons have been killed and 50 injured due to land sliding in Hunza while dozens of houses plunged into Hunza River and Karakoram Highway has been blocked,
several deep cracks were created on the terrain on different places in Attaabad Pain and upper areas of Hunza located on the sidelines of Karakoram Highway. The cracks started widening with sudden noise and a large part of the land started to plunge in Hunza River due to land sliding. The sudden catastrophe did not permit affectees to move to safe places. The Karakoram highway has also been blocked for any kind of traffic due to the land sliding. Rescue activities were underway in the affected area as several people are still caught under debris
The administration has also evacuated around 300 homes of nearby village Sarat. Deputy Commissioner Hunza Zafar Waqar told that rescue activities have been launched in the affected areas while residents are being shifted to safe places.
Hundreds of volunteers belonging to Ismaili Volunteer Corps, trained search and rescue experts of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance, Boys Scouts and local people are working to save lives and dig out people who could be trapped in debris of the landslide at Attabad.
Speaker of GBLA, Wazir Baig, who is also the elected representative of Hunza valley, and technocrat member of GBLA, Mutabiat Shah, have reached Aliabad Hunza to take part in the search and rescue operations.
According to sources emergency imposed in hunza , ten people dead. Fifty missing, Hunza river completely blocked landslide destroyed a number of houses located on a hillside in Atta bad village by Hunza River here on Monday. As many as 26 houses were devastated by the landslide that occurred at 2:00 PM on Monday.
Director General Disaster Management Authority Gilgt-Baltistan, Usman Younis said the rescue and relief activities are being carried out with the help of local volunteers.
Deputy Commissioner Gilgit, Asad Zamin has said that the blockage of river flow has triggered fear of flooding and directed the people living in low-lying areas to move to safer locations.
Village Attaabad has 100 houses located on a hillside in Sarat area of Hunza Tehseel. Many of these houses had cracked as a result of similar landslide 3 years ago.
Latest video clips of the situation in Hunza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw6Zi1rf ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHvC2Duu ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw6Zi1rf ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHvC2Duu ... re=channel
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shiraz.virani
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10/01/2010 - by Planetmountain
Landslide in the Hunza Valley, Pakistan
Via Simone Moro and his agency in Pakistan comes the terrible news of a landslide which struck the area close to the village Attabad in the Hunza Valley, causing deaths, destroying land communications and isolating circa 22000 people. Published below is the email by Sultan Khan of the agency Nazir Sabir.
"You may have already received news about the massive landslide in Attabad (Hunza Valley) that has claimed over 50 lives as per latest reports and devastated hundreds of people living in nearby four villages. So far 15 bodies were recovered from of the debris including seven children and four women and dozens injured.
Last Monday’s disaster slid down 40 homes with dozens of people in them from two mountain villages into the fast-flowing Hunza River, including Attabad. The authorities have declared an emergency, but four days on, rescue workers’ hopes of finding any survivors are wearing thin. Some 1,500 people were forced out of their homes from the nearby villages after the disaster had shaken homes with huge cracks underneath and partly damaged in the entire area.
In addition to this human tragedy the monstrous mountain slide has completely blocked the Hunza River creating an artificial dam. This mountain slide has also damaged a two-kilometre stretch of the Karakoram Highway by the debris splashing across the river, completely blocking any land access to the northern part of Hunza known as Gojal.
The populations of over 22000 people in the far flung villages of Hunza are running out of rations and are at the mercy of air lifting of food supplies, medicines and other materials until the KKH is reopened that is likely to take over six months at least. Yet there is a greater danger to the nearby villages and downstream areas if the blocked river dam bursts triggering flooding.
In the recent history no such terrifying catastrophe has been experienced in the Hunza Valley or anywhere in Gilgit Baltistan.
We have been informed that there is an acute shortage of blankets, beds, tents medicines and food supplies for the survivors and those affected. The bigger challenge at the moment is of food, fuel medicines and other supplies for those 22000 people of upper Hunza (Gojal) stranded beyond the blockade who are indirect sufferers and are going to be cut off from the rest of the country for many months to come.
Government agencies, the Aga Khan Foundation, Focus and a few other NGOs are in action already and we are accessing the situation further. Any contribution to this cause will be greatly appreciated. We will get back to you with details for relief help and donations once we have indication of help."
Sultan Khan, agency Nazir Sabir
------------
13 victims of the Attabad disaster burried
January 5, 2010
by Zulfiqar Ali Khan & Noor
Hunza, January 5: Thirteen victims of the landslide catastrophe, mostly women and children, were buried today in presence of thousands of mourners in Aliabad, Hunza.
Burial ceremony was also attended by speaker GBLA, Wazir Baig, GBLA member Mutabitat Shah, Commander of FCGB, home secretary GB and General (r) Farooq Ahmed, chairman NDMA, among others.
The death toll is likely to increase as nine to ten people are, reportedly, still missing.
Search and rescue operations are going on at the disaster site with help of Paksitan Army, local administration, Ismaili volunteers, local residents and trained S&R experts of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance.
Work on the removal of debris from the KKH is pending due to the continuous rock falls and landslide.
The Hunza River has been converted into a dam and poses serious threat to the low-lying villages of Gojal valley, especially Aayin Abad ward of Shishkat and some parts of Gulmit.
http://pamirtimes.net/2010/01/05/13-vic ... r-burried/
10/01/2010 - by Planetmountain
Landslide in the Hunza Valley, Pakistan
Via Simone Moro and his agency in Pakistan comes the terrible news of a landslide which struck the area close to the village Attabad in the Hunza Valley, causing deaths, destroying land communications and isolating circa 22000 people. Published below is the email by Sultan Khan of the agency Nazir Sabir.
"You may have already received news about the massive landslide in Attabad (Hunza Valley) that has claimed over 50 lives as per latest reports and devastated hundreds of people living in nearby four villages. So far 15 bodies were recovered from of the debris including seven children and four women and dozens injured.
Last Monday’s disaster slid down 40 homes with dozens of people in them from two mountain villages into the fast-flowing Hunza River, including Attabad. The authorities have declared an emergency, but four days on, rescue workers’ hopes of finding any survivors are wearing thin. Some 1,500 people were forced out of their homes from the nearby villages after the disaster had shaken homes with huge cracks underneath and partly damaged in the entire area.
In addition to this human tragedy the monstrous mountain slide has completely blocked the Hunza River creating an artificial dam. This mountain slide has also damaged a two-kilometre stretch of the Karakoram Highway by the debris splashing across the river, completely blocking any land access to the northern part of Hunza known as Gojal.
The populations of over 22000 people in the far flung villages of Hunza are running out of rations and are at the mercy of air lifting of food supplies, medicines and other materials until the KKH is reopened that is likely to take over six months at least. Yet there is a greater danger to the nearby villages and downstream areas if the blocked river dam bursts triggering flooding.
In the recent history no such terrifying catastrophe has been experienced in the Hunza Valley or anywhere in Gilgit Baltistan.
We have been informed that there is an acute shortage of blankets, beds, tents medicines and food supplies for the survivors and those affected. The bigger challenge at the moment is of food, fuel medicines and other supplies for those 22000 people of upper Hunza (Gojal) stranded beyond the blockade who are indirect sufferers and are going to be cut off from the rest of the country for many months to come.
Government agencies, the Aga Khan Foundation, Focus and a few other NGOs are in action already and we are accessing the situation further. Any contribution to this cause will be greatly appreciated. We will get back to you with details for relief help and donations once we have indication of help."
Sultan Khan, agency Nazir Sabir
------------
13 victims of the Attabad disaster burried
January 5, 2010
by Zulfiqar Ali Khan & Noor
Hunza, January 5: Thirteen victims of the landslide catastrophe, mostly women and children, were buried today in presence of thousands of mourners in Aliabad, Hunza.
Burial ceremony was also attended by speaker GBLA, Wazir Baig, GBLA member Mutabitat Shah, Commander of FCGB, home secretary GB and General (r) Farooq Ahmed, chairman NDMA, among others.
The death toll is likely to increase as nine to ten people are, reportedly, still missing.
Search and rescue operations are going on at the disaster site with help of Paksitan Army, local administration, Ismaili volunteers, local residents and trained S&R experts of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance.
Work on the removal of debris from the KKH is pending due to the continuous rock falls and landslide.
The Hunza River has been converted into a dam and poses serious threat to the low-lying villages of Gojal valley, especially Aayin Abad ward of Shishkat and some parts of Gulmit.
http://pamirtimes.net/2010/01/05/13-vic ... r-burried/
Pakistan villages 'at risk' of lake flooding
A lake near the northern Pakistani town of Aliabad is on the verge of breaking its banks and displacing thousands of people, officials have warned.
They say that if Attabad lake does flood, at least 36 villages could be submerged along with crops.
The lake formed when landslides blocked a river in January. The trapped water is now at dangerously high levels.
Officials say that parts of the famous Karakoram highway to China could be washed away if the lake's banks burst.
They told an emergency news conference on Tuesday that the danger will be highest during the rainy season in June.
Submerged villages
The landslide at the village of Attabad, about 30km (18 miles) north-east of Aliabad, occurred during snowstorms in January.
The area where the landslide took place is remote
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islambad says it cut off part of the Karakoram highway - which has remained closed to traffic and is not expected to be operational again for many years.
The landslide caused debris to block the River Hunza, which in turn prevented water from flowing downstream and created what is now referred to as Attabad lake.
Over the last four months water has been accumulating in the lake, which is now about 11km (6.8 miles) long. The water is more than 330ft (100m) deep in places.
Officials believe that by the first week of June the water will start overflowing the debris that is blocking its passage.
So far, more than 3,000 people have been displaced by the rising water levels upstream of Attabad.
Most belong to two villages that were submerged in late March and early April.
Another 1,000 locals are expected to leave their homes in a week or so when water will overrun low-lying areas of Gulmeet town, located on the northernmost limits of Hunza valley.
Promises
Officials warn that once the blockage is breached, rushing waters may submerge villages downstream of Attabad, displacing as many as 20,000 people.
Our correspondent says that a recurrent theme has been the indifferent attitude of the authorities.
The military-run National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) announced soon after the landslide that it would deploy the army's engineering wing, the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), to cut a breach in the debris which would allow water levels to recede.
It said at the time that the work would be completed in three weeks. But the FWO took more than three weeks to arrive at the scene.
In February, the NDMA said it would start releasing water from the lake by 15 March. Officials later said they would finish the job by the end of April.
The FWO now claims they have excavated some 30m of the debris, but some locals say they have only removed half of what they claim.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8674915.stm
A lake near the northern Pakistani town of Aliabad is on the verge of breaking its banks and displacing thousands of people, officials have warned.
They say that if Attabad lake does flood, at least 36 villages could be submerged along with crops.
The lake formed when landslides blocked a river in January. The trapped water is now at dangerously high levels.
Officials say that parts of the famous Karakoram highway to China could be washed away if the lake's banks burst.
They told an emergency news conference on Tuesday that the danger will be highest during the rainy season in June.
Submerged villages
The landslide at the village of Attabad, about 30km (18 miles) north-east of Aliabad, occurred during snowstorms in January.
The area where the landslide took place is remote
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islambad says it cut off part of the Karakoram highway - which has remained closed to traffic and is not expected to be operational again for many years.
The landslide caused debris to block the River Hunza, which in turn prevented water from flowing downstream and created what is now referred to as Attabad lake.
Over the last four months water has been accumulating in the lake, which is now about 11km (6.8 miles) long. The water is more than 330ft (100m) deep in places.
Officials believe that by the first week of June the water will start overflowing the debris that is blocking its passage.
So far, more than 3,000 people have been displaced by the rising water levels upstream of Attabad.
Most belong to two villages that were submerged in late March and early April.
Another 1,000 locals are expected to leave their homes in a week or so when water will overrun low-lying areas of Gulmeet town, located on the northernmost limits of Hunza valley.
Promises
Officials warn that once the blockage is breached, rushing waters may submerge villages downstream of Attabad, displacing as many as 20,000 people.
Our correspondent says that a recurrent theme has been the indifferent attitude of the authorities.
The military-run National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) announced soon after the landslide that it would deploy the army's engineering wing, the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), to cut a breach in the debris which would allow water levels to recede.
It said at the time that the work would be completed in three weeks. But the FWO took more than three weeks to arrive at the scene.
In February, the NDMA said it would start releasing water from the lake by 15 March. Officials later said they would finish the job by the end of April.
The FWO now claims they have excavated some 30m of the debris, but some locals say they have only removed half of what they claim.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8674915.stm
Villagers in path of potentially devastating Hunza flood reluctant to move
Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: May 17. 2010 10:58PM UAE / May 17. 2010 6:58PM GMT
A displaced woman prepares food at the Aga Khan Diamond Jubilee School at Altit in the Hunza Valley. Muzammil Pasha / The National
KARIMABAD // Thousands of residents in the northern Pakistan valley of Hunza, threatened by the imminent breakage of a massive landslide dam, face difficult choices this week.
The dam, formed on January 4 by a devastating landslide that obliterated the village of Ata-abad and killed 19 riverside residents, stretches back 20km to the village of Husseini, about 750km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
Contractors working with army engineers created a dam aimed at preventing a collapse. On Sunday they said the dam contained an estimated 1.2 million cusecs of water – potentially enough to send a 30 to 50-metre-high flash flood crashing down the valley, if the dam were to suddenly collapse. A cusec is a unit of water flow equal to one cubit foot per second.
Contractors working with engineers of the army’s Frontier Works Organisation said on Sunday the weight of the lake had shifted against the dam, and he water was rising faster than anticipated by the government, which has predicted May 25 as the earliest date waters would flow into the 25-metre dam. Shakoor Ali, a contractor, said: “It has risen by four feet since [Saturday]. It’s now only a matter of four, maybe five, at the most six days before the dam starts giving way,” he said.
The Frontier Works Organisation stopped work on Sunday and pulled back machinery and personnel to a hillside camp at Hassanabad, 20km downstream.
The Pakistani authorities, who have declined offers of help from foreign governments and non-governmental organisations, have ordered 13,000 downstream residents to leave by Thursday to schools and health clinics more than 30 metres above the riverbed.
However, many villagers are reluctant to evacuate because farming is their livelihood. The lake’s rise has coincided with the start of the May-to-November agricultural season, when snows from the Karakorum mountain range recede.
Apricot, cherry and mulberry trees are close to harvest, while recently planted crops of carrot, cauliflower, potato and spinach need regular irrigation and tending.
That reluctance, as well as concerns about the modesty of their womenfolk in a cramped communal setting, prompted residents of Juttal village, home to 400 households, on Friday to refuse to comply with orders from local police to evacuate. Their refusal led to an angry standoff and some scuffling.
The villagers are demanding the provision of tents at sites of their own choice, but the authorities have limited preparations to establishing nine relief centres – only one at Karimabad – where 45 to 60 days of food, medical provisions and army doctors are to be positioned.
Ali Mohammed, a retired army sergeant and a resident of Juttal, said: “We are, without exception, poor people, and we’ve already been forced to cut our poplar trees so that they are not lost to the coming flood.
“We are appealing to the government to do what is needed before it is too late and we lose everything.”
More than 1,060 residents displaced from Ata-abad, and the subsequently submerged villages of Aaienabad and Sarat villages, are housed in schools at Altit, 5km uphill from Karimabad, and other neighbouring villages.
Family matrons said each classroom, kept warm with government-provided carpet and underlay, and a rudimentary “Bukhara” stove, housed three families.
However, they complained that they had received little government assistance since being relocated, and supplies of food were intermittent.
Khawaja Khan, a government doctor, said the displaced communities also needed specialist care to deal with pregnancies and childbirths.
The imminent overflow of the lake at Ata-abad also threatens to isolate several thousand residents living upstream, where the Hunza Valley turns into a high-altitude desert in the summer, and the only alternative access is to China along a stretch of the Karakorum Highway, notorious for landslides and seismic activity.
Residents of Husseini, a village at the upstream end of the lake, said the half of the village located on the eastern bank of the Hunza River was on the verge of being cut off by the rising waters before the dam overflows.
The dam is barely a metre below the suspension bridge connecting it to its sister settlement, but villagers, like their cousins downstream, are prepared to take the risk of being cut off because of their dependency on growing crops.
Email:[email protected]
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... /1103/NEWS
Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: May 17. 2010 10:58PM UAE / May 17. 2010 6:58PM GMT
A displaced woman prepares food at the Aga Khan Diamond Jubilee School at Altit in the Hunza Valley. Muzammil Pasha / The National
KARIMABAD // Thousands of residents in the northern Pakistan valley of Hunza, threatened by the imminent breakage of a massive landslide dam, face difficult choices this week.
The dam, formed on January 4 by a devastating landslide that obliterated the village of Ata-abad and killed 19 riverside residents, stretches back 20km to the village of Husseini, about 750km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
Contractors working with army engineers created a dam aimed at preventing a collapse. On Sunday they said the dam contained an estimated 1.2 million cusecs of water – potentially enough to send a 30 to 50-metre-high flash flood crashing down the valley, if the dam were to suddenly collapse. A cusec is a unit of water flow equal to one cubit foot per second.
Contractors working with engineers of the army’s Frontier Works Organisation said on Sunday the weight of the lake had shifted against the dam, and he water was rising faster than anticipated by the government, which has predicted May 25 as the earliest date waters would flow into the 25-metre dam. Shakoor Ali, a contractor, said: “It has risen by four feet since [Saturday]. It’s now only a matter of four, maybe five, at the most six days before the dam starts giving way,” he said.
The Frontier Works Organisation stopped work on Sunday and pulled back machinery and personnel to a hillside camp at Hassanabad, 20km downstream.
The Pakistani authorities, who have declined offers of help from foreign governments and non-governmental organisations, have ordered 13,000 downstream residents to leave by Thursday to schools and health clinics more than 30 metres above the riverbed.
However, many villagers are reluctant to evacuate because farming is their livelihood. The lake’s rise has coincided with the start of the May-to-November agricultural season, when snows from the Karakorum mountain range recede.
Apricot, cherry and mulberry trees are close to harvest, while recently planted crops of carrot, cauliflower, potato and spinach need regular irrigation and tending.
That reluctance, as well as concerns about the modesty of their womenfolk in a cramped communal setting, prompted residents of Juttal village, home to 400 households, on Friday to refuse to comply with orders from local police to evacuate. Their refusal led to an angry standoff and some scuffling.
The villagers are demanding the provision of tents at sites of their own choice, but the authorities have limited preparations to establishing nine relief centres – only one at Karimabad – where 45 to 60 days of food, medical provisions and army doctors are to be positioned.
Ali Mohammed, a retired army sergeant and a resident of Juttal, said: “We are, without exception, poor people, and we’ve already been forced to cut our poplar trees so that they are not lost to the coming flood.
“We are appealing to the government to do what is needed before it is too late and we lose everything.”
More than 1,060 residents displaced from Ata-abad, and the subsequently submerged villages of Aaienabad and Sarat villages, are housed in schools at Altit, 5km uphill from Karimabad, and other neighbouring villages.
Family matrons said each classroom, kept warm with government-provided carpet and underlay, and a rudimentary “Bukhara” stove, housed three families.
However, they complained that they had received little government assistance since being relocated, and supplies of food were intermittent.
Khawaja Khan, a government doctor, said the displaced communities also needed specialist care to deal with pregnancies and childbirths.
The imminent overflow of the lake at Ata-abad also threatens to isolate several thousand residents living upstream, where the Hunza Valley turns into a high-altitude desert in the summer, and the only alternative access is to China along a stretch of the Karakorum Highway, notorious for landslides and seismic activity.
Residents of Husseini, a village at the upstream end of the lake, said the half of the village located on the eastern bank of the Hunza River was on the verge of being cut off by the rising waters before the dam overflows.
The dam is barely a metre below the suspension bridge connecting it to its sister settlement, but villagers, like their cousins downstream, are prepared to take the risk of being cut off because of their dependency on growing crops.
Email:[email protected]
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... /1103/NEWS
Landslide lake devastates China trade
Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: May 21. 2010 11:47PM UAE / May 21. 2010 7:47PM GMT
Always Coca Cola: a staple of modern life is carried to a village in the landslide area using old-fashioned manpower. Muzammil Pasha for The National
GILGIT, PAKISTAN // A landslide dam in northern Pakistan that has cut off road access to China since January has bankrupted the local trading community and threatens to destroy the mountainous region’s economy should it collapse and unleash mass flooding.
The landslide happened on January 4, killing 19 people and severing an upstream part of the Hunza river, creating a large artificial lake, and left an estimated 25,000-30,000 stranded. A breach to the dam and subsequent flood would threaten another 13,000-18,000 people in up to 36 downstream communities in the Hunza-Nagar Valley, some 700km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, speaking at a camp for displaced villagers in Altit village on Friday, said the landslide lake is expected to overflow on Tuesday, as the water level is rising every day.
In a series of interviews, business community leaders, bankers, non-governmental organisation directors and local politicians said bilateral trade with China, worth up to 10 billion rupees (Dh434 million) per year, had been the engine of the Gilgit-Baltistan region’s economy.
The landslide blocked a key stretch of the 1,300km Karakorum Highway (KKH), reputed to be the world’s highest international motorway, while some 1,000 containers of goods were awaiting clearance by Chinese customs officials after the New Year’s Day public holiday.
Shahbaz Khan, chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chamber of Commerce, said on Thursday the stranding of the Chinese import cargoes, particularly perishables such as fruit and vegetables, had caused many traders to default on loans taken from local banks.
He said the destruction of 22km of the KKH, as it is referred to locally, represented the second blow in as many years to the China trade.
Marauding Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants had looted and destroyed warehouses in Swat, the trade’s logistical hub, when they temporarily took control of the region of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province in March 2009.
“Even if the flood from the dam is not a huge one, it will take two or three years to rebuild the damaged stretches of the KKH,” said Mr Khan, who himself does business with China.
“The economic impact would be devastating.”
Desperate local traders, eager to mitigate losses, had hired rickety 15-metre-long wooden boats from the lake of Tarbela Dam, where the converged waters of the blocked Hunza, Gilgit and Indus rivers accumulate, some 700km downstream of the landslide dam and 65km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
The boats had acted as an aquatic alternative to lorries on the 20-km lake that has formed behind the landslide dam, ferrying Chinese cosmetics, chilli peppers and sultanas, and local exports of bitumen and lead ore, to makeshift quaysides at the dam and the nearest surviving stretch of the KKH to the north at Husseini village.
The ferry service ceased on May 18, when authorities declared the landslide dam was too unstable to be safe.
Bank managers in Gilgit, the regional capital, speaking on Thursday, said traders in the Hunza-Nagar Valley, which links Pakistan to China, had defaulted on some 2bn rupees in trade finance loans as a direct consequence of the landslide blockage of the KKH.
They said traders affected by the landslide and the Swat Taliban were being “aggressively pursued” in the courts by public sector and commercial banks, which had received no advice to the contrary from the central bank or the federal government.
Mirza Hussain, a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly from Nagar, said traders among his constituents felt betrayed by the lack of support from the federal government.
“They are the only eligible taxpayers in the region, and the federal government’s only source of revenue, and this is the thanks they’ve got,” he said at the dam quayside this week.
The bankers acknowledged the region’s economy was in trouble because of the landslide, saying it had also caused farmers and hoteliers in Hunza-Nagar to default on hundreds of millions of rupees worth of loans, either because of loss of income or destruction of mortgaged properties.
They said they expected limited relief would be provided by the central bank to the traders after the landslide lake overflows.
Managers at Focus Pakistan, an NGO sponsored by the Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili sect, said they had already received indications from government officials that financial support for residents rendered homeless and without means of living by the landslide and a subsequent flood would be far from adequate.
The Ismaili sect is the majority population group in the Hunza-Nagar Valley.
Mr Gilani said the federal government would “fully help” residents affected by the landslide and possible flood.
But aid organisations are not optimistic.
“We’ve been told to expect the least,” said an NGO manager, who asked not to be named because of sensitivities in relations with the government.
He estimated landslide and possible flood-affected residents would receive 25,000-50,000 rupees each in compensation from the government – similar to what hundreds of thousands of residents from areas in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas displaced by fighting received.
He said international aid, to date refused by the Pakistani government, which is adamant it has the resources to tackle the landslide crisis, would inevitably be needed to fuel the recovery of the region.
“The damage to the KKH could place us back in the 1960s,” he said.
“We would have to start from scratch.”
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... 2/1002/rss
Tom Hussain, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: May 21. 2010 11:47PM UAE / May 21. 2010 7:47PM GMT
Always Coca Cola: a staple of modern life is carried to a village in the landslide area using old-fashioned manpower. Muzammil Pasha for The National
GILGIT, PAKISTAN // A landslide dam in northern Pakistan that has cut off road access to China since January has bankrupted the local trading community and threatens to destroy the mountainous region’s economy should it collapse and unleash mass flooding.
The landslide happened on January 4, killing 19 people and severing an upstream part of the Hunza river, creating a large artificial lake, and left an estimated 25,000-30,000 stranded. A breach to the dam and subsequent flood would threaten another 13,000-18,000 people in up to 36 downstream communities in the Hunza-Nagar Valley, some 700km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, speaking at a camp for displaced villagers in Altit village on Friday, said the landslide lake is expected to overflow on Tuesday, as the water level is rising every day.
In a series of interviews, business community leaders, bankers, non-governmental organisation directors and local politicians said bilateral trade with China, worth up to 10 billion rupees (Dh434 million) per year, had been the engine of the Gilgit-Baltistan region’s economy.
The landslide blocked a key stretch of the 1,300km Karakorum Highway (KKH), reputed to be the world’s highest international motorway, while some 1,000 containers of goods were awaiting clearance by Chinese customs officials after the New Year’s Day public holiday.
Shahbaz Khan, chairman of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chamber of Commerce, said on Thursday the stranding of the Chinese import cargoes, particularly perishables such as fruit and vegetables, had caused many traders to default on loans taken from local banks.
He said the destruction of 22km of the KKH, as it is referred to locally, represented the second blow in as many years to the China trade.
Marauding Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants had looted and destroyed warehouses in Swat, the trade’s logistical hub, when they temporarily took control of the region of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province in March 2009.
“Even if the flood from the dam is not a huge one, it will take two or three years to rebuild the damaged stretches of the KKH,” said Mr Khan, who himself does business with China.
“The economic impact would be devastating.”
Desperate local traders, eager to mitigate losses, had hired rickety 15-metre-long wooden boats from the lake of Tarbela Dam, where the converged waters of the blocked Hunza, Gilgit and Indus rivers accumulate, some 700km downstream of the landslide dam and 65km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
The boats had acted as an aquatic alternative to lorries on the 20-km lake that has formed behind the landslide dam, ferrying Chinese cosmetics, chilli peppers and sultanas, and local exports of bitumen and lead ore, to makeshift quaysides at the dam and the nearest surviving stretch of the KKH to the north at Husseini village.
The ferry service ceased on May 18, when authorities declared the landslide dam was too unstable to be safe.
Bank managers in Gilgit, the regional capital, speaking on Thursday, said traders in the Hunza-Nagar Valley, which links Pakistan to China, had defaulted on some 2bn rupees in trade finance loans as a direct consequence of the landslide blockage of the KKH.
They said traders affected by the landslide and the Swat Taliban were being “aggressively pursued” in the courts by public sector and commercial banks, which had received no advice to the contrary from the central bank or the federal government.
Mirza Hussain, a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly from Nagar, said traders among his constituents felt betrayed by the lack of support from the federal government.
“They are the only eligible taxpayers in the region, and the federal government’s only source of revenue, and this is the thanks they’ve got,” he said at the dam quayside this week.
The bankers acknowledged the region’s economy was in trouble because of the landslide, saying it had also caused farmers and hoteliers in Hunza-Nagar to default on hundreds of millions of rupees worth of loans, either because of loss of income or destruction of mortgaged properties.
They said they expected limited relief would be provided by the central bank to the traders after the landslide lake overflows.
Managers at Focus Pakistan, an NGO sponsored by the Aga Khan, leader of the Ismaili sect, said they had already received indications from government officials that financial support for residents rendered homeless and without means of living by the landslide and a subsequent flood would be far from adequate.
The Ismaili sect is the majority population group in the Hunza-Nagar Valley.
Mr Gilani said the federal government would “fully help” residents affected by the landslide and possible flood.
But aid organisations are not optimistic.
“We’ve been told to expect the least,” said an NGO manager, who asked not to be named because of sensitivities in relations with the government.
He estimated landslide and possible flood-affected residents would receive 25,000-50,000 rupees each in compensation from the government – similar to what hundreds of thousands of residents from areas in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas displaced by fighting received.
He said international aid, to date refused by the Pakistani government, which is adamant it has the resources to tackle the landslide crisis, would inevitably be needed to fuel the recovery of the region.
“The damage to the KKH could place us back in the 1960s,” he said.
“We would have to start from scratch.”
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... 2/1002/rss
Government unveils Hunza aid package
* PM announces Rs 200,000 for those who have lost their land, Rs 400,000 for completely damaged houses
* Each family to get Rs 5,000 monthly for 6 months
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani unveiled a package on Wednesday to provide compensation to the people affected by the Attaabad lake in Hunza.
Announcing the package at a news conference, the prime minister said Rs 200,000 each would be given to all those who had lost their land, Rs 400,000 for completely damaged houses and Rs 160,000 for partially damaged houses.
Gilani said each family affected would get a monthly cash grant of Rs 5,000 for six months. The prime minister said the wheat and flour stocked in Upper Hunza by the government of Gilgit-Baltistan would be distributed free of cost to the victims for two months in accordance with the existing scales.
He said the Pakistan Baitul Maal will provide an additional Rs 100,000 to owners of the 171 submerged houses of Ainabad, Shishkat and Gulmit. The Utility Stores Corporation will also establish sales points at Gulmit and Sust immediately. Free food would be provided for three months to those who have been cut off from the rest of the population due to damaged roads, he added.
Gilani said necessary funds will be immediately provided to the Gilgit-Baltistan government for implementation of the package, while the National Disaster Management Authority will also provide necessary support in this regard.
The prime minister directed the Gilgit-Baltistan government to establish an education assistance fund to finance students studying outside Gilgit-Baltistan for two semesters. He also said the 22-kilometre portion of the Karakoram Highway submerged in the lake would be constructed when the situation stabilises. Necessary instructions had been issued to the Communication Ministry for the purpose, he added.
Responding to criticism that he did not announce the package during his recent visit to Hunza, Gilani said that would have been premature before a need and damage assessment. He said the NDMA chairman remained in Hunza for about a week and prepared recommendations in consultations with all stakeholders.
He said the government was focusing on the situation in Attaabad and had taken necessary measures to mitigate sufferings of the victims.
Gilani said compensation worth Rs 10.7 million had been paid to the dead and injured, while the federal government has allocated Rs 100 million for relief efforts to the Gilgit-Baltistan government. He said a 24-metre deep and 45-metre wide spillway was completed by the Frontier Works Organisations by May 15 for Rs 80 million, substantially reducing the risk for the downstream population.
The prime minister informed that an early warning system has been put in place and food supplies worth Rs 50 million have already been provided and an additional supply worth Rs 55 million is in the pipeline.
He said food and non-food support worth Rs 45 million has been provided by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, UN agencies, the Agha Khan Foundation and non-governmental organisations.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2010_pg1_1
* PM announces Rs 200,000 for those who have lost their land, Rs 400,000 for completely damaged houses
* Each family to get Rs 5,000 monthly for 6 months
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani unveiled a package on Wednesday to provide compensation to the people affected by the Attaabad lake in Hunza.
Announcing the package at a news conference, the prime minister said Rs 200,000 each would be given to all those who had lost their land, Rs 400,000 for completely damaged houses and Rs 160,000 for partially damaged houses.
Gilani said each family affected would get a monthly cash grant of Rs 5,000 for six months. The prime minister said the wheat and flour stocked in Upper Hunza by the government of Gilgit-Baltistan would be distributed free of cost to the victims for two months in accordance with the existing scales.
He said the Pakistan Baitul Maal will provide an additional Rs 100,000 to owners of the 171 submerged houses of Ainabad, Shishkat and Gulmit. The Utility Stores Corporation will also establish sales points at Gulmit and Sust immediately. Free food would be provided for three months to those who have been cut off from the rest of the population due to damaged roads, he added.
Gilani said necessary funds will be immediately provided to the Gilgit-Baltistan government for implementation of the package, while the National Disaster Management Authority will also provide necessary support in this regard.
The prime minister directed the Gilgit-Baltistan government to establish an education assistance fund to finance students studying outside Gilgit-Baltistan for two semesters. He also said the 22-kilometre portion of the Karakoram Highway submerged in the lake would be constructed when the situation stabilises. Necessary instructions had been issued to the Communication Ministry for the purpose, he added.
Responding to criticism that he did not announce the package during his recent visit to Hunza, Gilani said that would have been premature before a need and damage assessment. He said the NDMA chairman remained in Hunza for about a week and prepared recommendations in consultations with all stakeholders.
He said the government was focusing on the situation in Attaabad and had taken necessary measures to mitigate sufferings of the victims.
Gilani said compensation worth Rs 10.7 million had been paid to the dead and injured, while the federal government has allocated Rs 100 million for relief efforts to the Gilgit-Baltistan government. He said a 24-metre deep and 45-metre wide spillway was completed by the Frontier Works Organisations by May 15 for Rs 80 million, substantially reducing the risk for the downstream population.
The prime minister informed that an early warning system has been put in place and food supplies worth Rs 50 million have already been provided and an additional supply worth Rs 55 million is in the pipeline.
He said food and non-food support worth Rs 45 million has been provided by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, UN agencies, the Agha Khan Foundation and non-governmental organisations.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2010_pg1_1
Attaabad Lake starts overflowing
Hunza—Water has started flowing out from Attaabad Lake through the spillway, said Chairman NDMA General Nadeem Ahmad to mediapesons here. The outflow is recorded 70 to 80 cusecs for the time being and is increasing every half an hour.
All government institutes are asked to be on high alert in order to deal with any dangerous situation if and when it occurs. According to a report obtained from Karimabad check post , the outflow of water was very less initially, but will now increase.
Experts said that if the amount of water passing through the spillway reaches 1000-2000 cusecs, there is a possibility of the weak river banks to erode away. If this happens, the lower areas may be flooded. For this reason, the Gilgit-Baltistan government has transferred more than 20,000 people to safer areas.
The local administration has instructed people to be careful and to refrain from going near the river bank. Chairman NDMA said helicopters will roam in the area to keenly observe the situation.
“Evacuation has been completed from the respective danger zone and announcements have been made from the mosques to stay at safer places. According to the Gilgit-Baltistan administration, any journey on the Hunza river is banned and so is the entry into Ganish Bridge.
The civil and army officials have started monitoring the spillway through satellite cameras. Karakurm High way (KKH) lies between Gilgit and Hunza would be closed. Talking to a private news channel, Chairman NDMA General Nadeem Ahmad said that spillway was built in the first phase and in the second phase; water has been started spilling through spillway.
He said initial spill of water will not be more than 300 cusecs, adding the rescue workers are ready to confront any situation.
Chairman NDMA said, helicopters will roam in the area to keep an eye on the situation and prevent human losses. Evacuation has been completed from the area and announcements have been made from the mosques to stay at safer places.
In case of lake burst and flooding, Hunza will be the first to be affected followed by Nagar. Flooding could also damage parts of Karakoram Highway. NDMA Chairman Lt.Gen.(r) Nadeem Ahmed said Saturday about the lake situation that the danger have been reduced considerably not only to the downstream population but also the population which is stuck up the stream.
There are two aspects of the Karakuram highway—one is the part which is under water for the last about 4 and 5 months so their deterioration would be much more and that will take much longer time for restoration,a private news channel reported.
The other part of the Karakuram which is downstream of the lake will experience a spite in a flood and the water will then go away ,he added.
He said he personally feel the dangers to the Karakuram downstream there landslide would be much lesser. The Government is continuously monitoring the situation through CCTV cameras, while the Army and Agha Khan Helicopters are hovering over the area to check every minute changes so that quick action could be taken to avert any crisis.
The water is slowly and gradually passing from the areas and it is expected that this flow would increase with the passage of time.
According to the Control Room of Hunza-Nagger, Internally displaced People have been shifted to safer places for their safety and security. Field Geologist Sher Sultan Baig on Saturday said 10 percent area of Attaabad is still unstable due to its gegraphic conditions and the danger of landsliding looms large there.
Talking about the outflow of water from the Hunza Lake,he said, “it depends upon weather condition, inflow, melting of glaciers, and the rate of erosion in the Lake”. However he added there is a potential threat of flooding of downstream places.—APP
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=33672
******
More landsliding expected in Attaabad
Saturday, 29 May, 2010 9:14 pm
HUNZA : Field Geologist Sher Sultan Baig on Saturday said 10 percent area of Attaabad is still unstable due to its gegraphic conditions and the danger of landsliding looms large there.
Talking to APP, he said FOCUS has conducted a survey of the area and send its recommendations to the concerned authorities, to avoid more disasters in future. It has recommended that the inhabitants should be evacuated from the area.
Talking about the outflow of water from the Hunza Lake,he said, "it depends upon weather condition, inflow, melting of glaciers, and the rate of erosion in the Lake". However he added there is a potential threat of flooding at downstream places.
"Our experts are continuously monitoring the situation and I hope the final picture will be cleared after May 31", he said.
FOCUS is a project of Agha Khan Development Network. It conducts research and surveys on landsliding, Glacier Lake Outburst (GLOFs), Floorings, Rock falls, Snow Avalanches in Hunza, Gilgit and adjacent areas.
http://www.aajtv.com/news/National/163623_detail.html
Hunza—Water has started flowing out from Attaabad Lake through the spillway, said Chairman NDMA General Nadeem Ahmad to mediapesons here. The outflow is recorded 70 to 80 cusecs for the time being and is increasing every half an hour.
All government institutes are asked to be on high alert in order to deal with any dangerous situation if and when it occurs. According to a report obtained from Karimabad check post , the outflow of water was very less initially, but will now increase.
Experts said that if the amount of water passing through the spillway reaches 1000-2000 cusecs, there is a possibility of the weak river banks to erode away. If this happens, the lower areas may be flooded. For this reason, the Gilgit-Baltistan government has transferred more than 20,000 people to safer areas.
The local administration has instructed people to be careful and to refrain from going near the river bank. Chairman NDMA said helicopters will roam in the area to keenly observe the situation.
“Evacuation has been completed from the respective danger zone and announcements have been made from the mosques to stay at safer places. According to the Gilgit-Baltistan administration, any journey on the Hunza river is banned and so is the entry into Ganish Bridge.
The civil and army officials have started monitoring the spillway through satellite cameras. Karakurm High way (KKH) lies between Gilgit and Hunza would be closed. Talking to a private news channel, Chairman NDMA General Nadeem Ahmad said that spillway was built in the first phase and in the second phase; water has been started spilling through spillway.
He said initial spill of water will not be more than 300 cusecs, adding the rescue workers are ready to confront any situation.
Chairman NDMA said, helicopters will roam in the area to keep an eye on the situation and prevent human losses. Evacuation has been completed from the area and announcements have been made from the mosques to stay at safer places.
In case of lake burst and flooding, Hunza will be the first to be affected followed by Nagar. Flooding could also damage parts of Karakoram Highway. NDMA Chairman Lt.Gen.(r) Nadeem Ahmed said Saturday about the lake situation that the danger have been reduced considerably not only to the downstream population but also the population which is stuck up the stream.
There are two aspects of the Karakuram highway—one is the part which is under water for the last about 4 and 5 months so their deterioration would be much more and that will take much longer time for restoration,a private news channel reported.
The other part of the Karakuram which is downstream of the lake will experience a spite in a flood and the water will then go away ,he added.
He said he personally feel the dangers to the Karakuram downstream there landslide would be much lesser. The Government is continuously monitoring the situation through CCTV cameras, while the Army and Agha Khan Helicopters are hovering over the area to check every minute changes so that quick action could be taken to avert any crisis.
The water is slowly and gradually passing from the areas and it is expected that this flow would increase with the passage of time.
According to the Control Room of Hunza-Nagger, Internally displaced People have been shifted to safer places for their safety and security. Field Geologist Sher Sultan Baig on Saturday said 10 percent area of Attaabad is still unstable due to its gegraphic conditions and the danger of landsliding looms large there.
Talking about the outflow of water from the Hunza Lake,he said, “it depends upon weather condition, inflow, melting of glaciers, and the rate of erosion in the Lake”. However he added there is a potential threat of flooding of downstream places.—APP
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=33672
******
More landsliding expected in Attaabad
Saturday, 29 May, 2010 9:14 pm
HUNZA : Field Geologist Sher Sultan Baig on Saturday said 10 percent area of Attaabad is still unstable due to its gegraphic conditions and the danger of landsliding looms large there.
Talking to APP, he said FOCUS has conducted a survey of the area and send its recommendations to the concerned authorities, to avoid more disasters in future. It has recommended that the inhabitants should be evacuated from the area.
Talking about the outflow of water from the Hunza Lake,he said, "it depends upon weather condition, inflow, melting of glaciers, and the rate of erosion in the Lake". However he added there is a potential threat of flooding at downstream places.
"Our experts are continuously monitoring the situation and I hope the final picture will be cleared after May 31", he said.
FOCUS is a project of Agha Khan Development Network. It conducts research and surveys on landsliding, Glacier Lake Outburst (GLOFs), Floorings, Rock falls, Snow Avalanches in Hunza, Gilgit and adjacent areas.
http://www.aajtv.com/news/National/163623_detail.html
PAKISTAN: Hunza flood-displaced hope for early return
Photo: Nisar Ahmed/IRIN
Boat services have resumed across the lake on the Hunza River
GILGIT, 18 July 2010 (IRIN) - Receding water levels on the lake formed in the Hunza River by a landslide in January this year have raised hopes among the 20,000 or so people displaced by the disaster that they may soon be able to return to their villages.
Activists with Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS), an international group of agencies affiliated with the Aga Khan Development Network, said that water in the lake and in flooded upstream villages was receding by a few inches a day. They said it was too early to predict when internally displaced persons (IDPs) could return.
Syed Mehdi Shah, chief minister of the self-governing northern territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, told the media in Islamabad that IDPs from areas downstream of the lake could begin returning home “early in August”.
However, Zafar Taj, deputy commissioner of Hunza-Nagar district in Gilgit-Baltistan, told IRIN: “People will be moved back when it is safe.”
Women based in makeshift camps, or the homes of relatives in safer, downstream areas, are particularly keen to resume normal life.
“We are cooped up all day here. There is nothing to do. We keep thinking of the chickens and livestock and crops we need to tend to,” Ameena Bibi, 40, told IRIN. “Men can at least go and sit at a bazaar tea shop. But we women are used to work in our homes and villages. We feel tired of just sitting and chatting with each other.”
Samra Bibi, 19, agreed saying: “We just feel we must go back even if it’s unsafe. It’s awful here.”
Spillway working
Photo: OCHA
The lake on Hunza River is in Gilgit-Baltistan in the northeast. (See larger version of map)
Early in July, water finally began flowing through the spillway created by military teams following the disaster.
David Petley, a geologist at the UK-based International Landslide Centre, said on his blog that lake levels had stabilized by 6 July.
Improved weather also means boat services have resumed across the lake.
IDPs are anxious to get back and assess the flooding damage to their assets and begin repairs.
“It’s hot and uncomfortable here. The house we’re living in with my relatives is rather cramped too. My wife and I are now very keen to return,” said Salam Muhammad, who was displaced just over a month ago from Upper Hunza. “I wish they would tell us when we can go.”
He said potato crops in many areas had been destroyed by the floods and many houses would need major repairs.
IDPs have been staging protests to demand a better compensation package from the government.
kh/ed
Theme(s): (IRIN) Natural Disasters, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89872
Photo: Nisar Ahmed/IRIN
Boat services have resumed across the lake on the Hunza River
GILGIT, 18 July 2010 (IRIN) - Receding water levels on the lake formed in the Hunza River by a landslide in January this year have raised hopes among the 20,000 or so people displaced by the disaster that they may soon be able to return to their villages.
Activists with Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS), an international group of agencies affiliated with the Aga Khan Development Network, said that water in the lake and in flooded upstream villages was receding by a few inches a day. They said it was too early to predict when internally displaced persons (IDPs) could return.
Syed Mehdi Shah, chief minister of the self-governing northern territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, told the media in Islamabad that IDPs from areas downstream of the lake could begin returning home “early in August”.
However, Zafar Taj, deputy commissioner of Hunza-Nagar district in Gilgit-Baltistan, told IRIN: “People will be moved back when it is safe.”
Women based in makeshift camps, or the homes of relatives in safer, downstream areas, are particularly keen to resume normal life.
“We are cooped up all day here. There is nothing to do. We keep thinking of the chickens and livestock and crops we need to tend to,” Ameena Bibi, 40, told IRIN. “Men can at least go and sit at a bazaar tea shop. But we women are used to work in our homes and villages. We feel tired of just sitting and chatting with each other.”
Samra Bibi, 19, agreed saying: “We just feel we must go back even if it’s unsafe. It’s awful here.”
Spillway working
Photo: OCHA
The lake on Hunza River is in Gilgit-Baltistan in the northeast. (See larger version of map)
Early in July, water finally began flowing through the spillway created by military teams following the disaster.
David Petley, a geologist at the UK-based International Landslide Centre, said on his blog that lake levels had stabilized by 6 July.
Improved weather also means boat services have resumed across the lake.
IDPs are anxious to get back and assess the flooding damage to their assets and begin repairs.
“It’s hot and uncomfortable here. The house we’re living in with my relatives is rather cramped too. My wife and I are now very keen to return,” said Salam Muhammad, who was displaced just over a month ago from Upper Hunza. “I wish they would tell us when we can go.”
He said potato crops in many areas had been destroyed by the floods and many houses would need major repairs.
IDPs have been staging protests to demand a better compensation package from the government.
kh/ed
Theme(s): (IRIN) Natural Disasters, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89872
After Atabad disaster, the entire Hunza valley has been badly affected due to recent torrential rains. The four villages (Khizarabad, Hussainabad, Mayoon and Khanabad) of lower Hunza are showing a devastating picture by flooding and continuous sliding and cut off from Gilgit-Baltistan. The link road from Karakoram Highway (KKH), about 3 kilometers, passing through a village of Nager valley (Skandarabad) is totally damaged by sliding and heavy boulders from the mountain of 'Gehkus'. Underground after-shocks are heard and felt and the people are scared. The fruit orchards of Hussainabad Paeen have smashed by boulders coming down from the said mountain. Hundreds of kanals of agriculture land and orchards of Hussainabad Centre is inundated into the Hunza river. The irrigation channel of Khizarabad and Hussainabad Paeen is totally damaged. The entire population of Hussainabad Paeen (53 households) have been displaced and shifted to Hussainabad Centre and are living in tents in a miserable condition. Some tents and food items have been provided by the government and the entire population of four villages is facing acute shortage of daily commodities and needs of life. No electricity, no communication, it seems that the life is on halt. Oh God help us on this critical situation.
“We want our school back!”
By Syed Irfan Ashraf | DAWN.COM
(39 minutes ago) Today
“Many youngsters don’t want to go to the tent school as the teachers are not there,” said Ambreen. – Photo by Arif Shah/Dawn.com
On a recent trip to the Hunza Valley, this scribe came across an interesting protest by young students in Ahmedabad town. With placards in their hands, scores of school children were chanting slogans as they passed through the streets of main Ahmedabad Bazaar. They were demanding the local authorities to shift the Attabad IDPs from their school. We want our school back, the youngsters maintained.
Formed after a massive landslide in January 2010, the Attabad Lake in Hunza Valley continues to cause hardship to the locals, particularly the displaced families.
Unperturbed by the presence of keenly watching tourists in the serene and peaceful Hunza Valley, the children registered their protest in front of the Ismaili Community Office and later lodged a formal complaint at the District Coordination Office, Hunza.
“We are studying in a tent school for well over a year now. The local authorities have yet to shift the Attabad Lake affectees from the premises,” said Ambreen. A student of class 7 at the Diamond Jubilee School in Altit, she informed that other schools in the area faced a similar situation.
“Most schools in Altit are being used as shelter. But we students end up suffering too. We have to drink muddy water and study in tents that are really dirty,” she complained innocently.
“Many youngsters don’t want to go to the tent school as the teachers are not there. Then there is the sunlight and heat. Its makes us ill and at times many children have suffered a heat stroke,” she added.
The lake has affected thousands of people, many of whom had to relocate to other areas in Hunza Valley since their villages were submerged.
A May 2010 view of the lake. – Photo courtesy of Paki Mag
“The government must understand that this is not a small tragedy. All victims are not lucky to have relatives in other parts of the valley. Many of those housed in schools and makeshift shelters continue to live in a miserable state,” said Ikram Ali. He said that the absence of doctors in the affected area is also causing problems. “Neither can we leave our patients untreated nor can we afford to take them to hospitals in Lower Hunza,” said Ikram.
In the initial days of the crisis, ample media coverage hyped up the issue. As a result, the politicians and state officials were left with no other option but to rush to the scene. During their visits to Hunza, the prime minister and the army chief promised the area people that their concerns would be addressed on a priority basis. This gave some hope to the IDPs, who thought that they would be able to rebuild their lives.
However, once the media coverage subsided, official lethargy followed.
“Personally, I am not satisfied with the way things are going on,” said an official assigned with the task of the rehabilitation of Attabad IDPs. “We had pledged that the IDPs would be rehabilitated by May 2011, however, there is a remote possibility of it even now,” he added, requesting anonymity.
As a result of delay, hopes of the IDPs have thinned down slowly and gradually.
Food insecurity is another issue that is faced by the residents in Gojal regardless of them being displaced or not.
Soaring prices of commodities have made it difficult for the residents to buy even groceries.
“The prices of vegetables have increased a lot. Tomatoes which we bought earlier for Rs. 60 per kilogramme now cost us Rs200,” said Shahid Hunzai. In many places, a three-fold increase has been taken place in the prices of commodities, which has left people with no option but to shift to other areas.
Since the lake water is spread over an area of 32 kilometers, it has disconnected upper Hunza from central and lower parts of the valley. Locals have to use small boats to ferry around, which is not only costly but also risky.
“Earlier we used to pay Rs. 100 to travel from central Hunza to the upper parts of the valley, but now we cover the same distance by paying Rs. 1000,” said Shahid Hunzai. Growing inflation and dwindling local economy has fast turned the hopes of people into despair. “We cannot wait anymore,” said Aziz Jan, an IDP. “If the government was unable to settle the issue in time, it should have asked the Chinese government for help rather than sitting on the issue for so long,” he said curtly.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/19/%E2%80%9 ... 80%9D.html
By Syed Irfan Ashraf | DAWN.COM
(39 minutes ago) Today
“Many youngsters don’t want to go to the tent school as the teachers are not there,” said Ambreen. – Photo by Arif Shah/Dawn.com
On a recent trip to the Hunza Valley, this scribe came across an interesting protest by young students in Ahmedabad town. With placards in their hands, scores of school children were chanting slogans as they passed through the streets of main Ahmedabad Bazaar. They were demanding the local authorities to shift the Attabad IDPs from their school. We want our school back, the youngsters maintained.
Formed after a massive landslide in January 2010, the Attabad Lake in Hunza Valley continues to cause hardship to the locals, particularly the displaced families.
Unperturbed by the presence of keenly watching tourists in the serene and peaceful Hunza Valley, the children registered their protest in front of the Ismaili Community Office and later lodged a formal complaint at the District Coordination Office, Hunza.
“We are studying in a tent school for well over a year now. The local authorities have yet to shift the Attabad Lake affectees from the premises,” said Ambreen. A student of class 7 at the Diamond Jubilee School in Altit, she informed that other schools in the area faced a similar situation.
“Most schools in Altit are being used as shelter. But we students end up suffering too. We have to drink muddy water and study in tents that are really dirty,” she complained innocently.
“Many youngsters don’t want to go to the tent school as the teachers are not there. Then there is the sunlight and heat. Its makes us ill and at times many children have suffered a heat stroke,” she added.
The lake has affected thousands of people, many of whom had to relocate to other areas in Hunza Valley since their villages were submerged.
A May 2010 view of the lake. – Photo courtesy of Paki Mag
“The government must understand that this is not a small tragedy. All victims are not lucky to have relatives in other parts of the valley. Many of those housed in schools and makeshift shelters continue to live in a miserable state,” said Ikram Ali. He said that the absence of doctors in the affected area is also causing problems. “Neither can we leave our patients untreated nor can we afford to take them to hospitals in Lower Hunza,” said Ikram.
In the initial days of the crisis, ample media coverage hyped up the issue. As a result, the politicians and state officials were left with no other option but to rush to the scene. During their visits to Hunza, the prime minister and the army chief promised the area people that their concerns would be addressed on a priority basis. This gave some hope to the IDPs, who thought that they would be able to rebuild their lives.
However, once the media coverage subsided, official lethargy followed.
“Personally, I am not satisfied with the way things are going on,” said an official assigned with the task of the rehabilitation of Attabad IDPs. “We had pledged that the IDPs would be rehabilitated by May 2011, however, there is a remote possibility of it even now,” he added, requesting anonymity.
As a result of delay, hopes of the IDPs have thinned down slowly and gradually.
Food insecurity is another issue that is faced by the residents in Gojal regardless of them being displaced or not.
Soaring prices of commodities have made it difficult for the residents to buy even groceries.
“The prices of vegetables have increased a lot. Tomatoes which we bought earlier for Rs. 60 per kilogramme now cost us Rs200,” said Shahid Hunzai. In many places, a three-fold increase has been taken place in the prices of commodities, which has left people with no option but to shift to other areas.
Since the lake water is spread over an area of 32 kilometers, it has disconnected upper Hunza from central and lower parts of the valley. Locals have to use small boats to ferry around, which is not only costly but also risky.
“Earlier we used to pay Rs. 100 to travel from central Hunza to the upper parts of the valley, but now we cover the same distance by paying Rs. 1000,” said Shahid Hunzai. Growing inflation and dwindling local economy has fast turned the hopes of people into despair. “We cannot wait anymore,” said Aziz Jan, an IDP. “If the government was unable to settle the issue in time, it should have asked the Chinese government for help rather than sitting on the issue for so long,” he said curtly.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/19/%E2%80%9 ... 80%9D.html
Hunza’s New Lake: The Story Behind the Birth of Lake Gojal
Scientists and satellites hold vigil on a newborn lake in Hunza
http://simerg.com/about/hunzas-new-lake ... ake-gojal/
Scientists and satellites hold vigil on a newborn lake in Hunza
http://simerg.com/about/hunzas-new-lake ... ake-gojal/
Attabad, the Pakistani mountain village that is now an island
After a landslide created a dam, the village on the Karakoram Highway was cut off – and the rescue effort has been slow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... age-island
After a landslide created a dam, the village on the Karakoram Highway was cut off – and the rescue effort has been slow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... age-island