Government apathy drives Attabad Lake survivors in dire straits

Government apathy drives Attabad Lake survivors in dire straits

January 4, 2012, will be the second anniversary of the Attabad Lake disaster which was formed by the landslide along the Karakorum Highway, blocking the path of the Hunza river for a continues five months. The lake flooding has displaced 6,000 people from
upstream villages, stranded (from land transportation routes) a further 25,000 and inundated over 12 miles (19 km) of the Karakoram Highway. The lake reached 13 miles (21 km) long and over 100 metres in depth by the first week of June 2010 when it began flowing
over the landslide dam, completely submerging lower Shishkat and partly flooding Gulmit.

Government with the help of technical advisers and workforce of Frontier Works Organization, NESPAK and Chinese engineers, attempted to create spillways in order to drain the accumulated water and promised that the lake will be emptied sooner than later,
a promise which still has to see the light of the day after a lapse of two years.

Aziz Ahmed, a member of the anniversary organizing committee, said, “It appears that there is no end in sight to our miseries, so we plan to knock the door of everyone we can for the resolution of this critical issue.”

Ahmed claimed that the lake could be drained within two months if the task was given to a Chinese firm, but accordingly to FWO, a team of World Bank experts, Dr Richard Hughes, Dr David Petlay and Allessandro Palinieri, visited the site on March 11, 2010
to conduct a technical evaluation and suggest modalities to tackle the catastrophe. The team fully endorsed the plan proposed by Pakistan Army and NESPAK experts to tackle the catastrophe.

The Gojal Valley, which is worst affected as a result of this lake, is home to three rare ethnic groups, namely Wakhi (70%), Burushaski (28%) and Domaki (2%).The entire population of Domaki speakers, a very tiny minority and historically marginalized community,
was displaced from their village (Shishkat).

The 12 mile stretch of the Karakorum Highway which was submerged in the rising waters of the lake disrupted the Pakistan-China trade which mainly takes place via the only treading route. China, since then, has sent several consignments of relief goods to
the effected populace of the region. The local economy of the Hunza and adjoining areas was severely jolted as their only plying route was cut off from the rest of the countries. Many of the local people bought huge boats to carry out the shipment from one
end of the lake to the other, covering a stretch of 12 km. Earlier this week, the district government placed a ban on boat travel through Attabad Lake, but local boat owners defied the ban, despite the threat to life and limb.

For the moment, the lake water has partially frozen due to the plummeting temperatures in the region and is badly affecting the health of the travelers who decide to take a boat to the other end.

“Just imagine the condition of the passengers, especially women and children and the sick and elderly, who are forced to travel in open boats in this freezing weather,” a passenger said.

While the G-B government seems to be paying no heed to the vows of the effected populace, it becomes federal government’s priority to drain the lake at all cost, in order to restore the economic and social balance in the region. 

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Posted by Naveed A Bari on Dec 29 2011. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry