By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: Deputy Commissioner Lower Chitral Naveed Ahmed has said that the region of Chitral was highly vulnerable to glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) which was surrounded by hundreds of glaciers acting as ‘the swords of Damocles’ over its human settlements and physical infrastructures.
He said that the glaciers cannot be stopped from being exploded by human efforts but their devastations can be mitigated by taking appropriate measures in advance which included making the susceptible people resilient to the disaster spelled out as a result.
Addressing the concluding ceremony of the one-day workshop on ‘preparedness for GLOF in Chitral’ arranged by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the media persons, he said that during the disaster of the type in Golen valley in July last, infrastructures of roads, drinking and irrigation water supply schemes were badly affected whose loss has been estimated at Rs. 350 million.
He said that the flood also damaged the 108 mega watt Golen Gol hydro power station whose losses runs into billions as it took three months to restore the generation of the power house while all these colossal losses to the national exchequer could have been averted comfortably by designing the infrastructures resilient to the GLOF threatening the valley.
Mr. Ahmed said that the UNDP-funded project is the need of the hour to create resilience in the people including putting in place early warning system, erecting safe havens and stockpiling of both food and non-food items.
He said that the project should also impart training and strengthen those designing the physical infrastructures in such vulnerable valleys so that they may be saved from being hit by the flood in future.
In his presentation, the meteorologist of Pak Met department, Manzoor Ahmed showed that the phenomena of rainfall and snowfall have become quite irregular and anomalous over the last many decades which was the outcome of climate change phenomenon.
He said that the abrupt and irregular rise and fall of atmospheric temperature triggered the outburst of glacial lakes and flash floods in the area divided into thirty six sub-valleys.
The MPA from Chitral, Maulana Hedayatur Rahman said that the first phase of the GLOF Project has produced considerable results in Bindu Gol area in Upper Chitral where the devastations of the floods were reduced due to preparedness in the community.
He said that launching the second version of the project after a gap of many years was quite inevitable keeping in view the frequency of the glacial lakes outburst floods and the large number of glaciers declared as dangerous being on the verge of explosion.
He suggested that the project should not be restricted to the valley of Golen Gol but it must be promptly extended to the other vulnerable villages including Gohkir, Reshun, Sonoghur, Arkari and Sheshi Koh.
The provincial coordinator of the GLOF Project Fahad Bangesh and Chitral-based field officer Iqtidarul Mulk explained the salient features of the project and said that it was a community-based endeavor in which the experience and knowledge of the local people is also incorporated to make them effective.
