Hunza Lake crisis continue to hound people of Gilgit

Outburst in the lake could be a major set back to region’s development

Nisar Ahmed Thokar

Islamabad, May 28: The escalating water level in the landslide-triggered Hunza Lake is posing a serious threat to the region’s ecological system besides causing inconvenience to thousands of people who had to flee away from their homes as a result of this natural calamity that hit the area a couple of months back.

Hunza River, one of the tributaries of River Sindh, took the shape of an artificial Lake after a massive landslide blocked off its flow completely. A village near Attabad also came under the mudslide that killed more than 17 people on January 04 this year.

Owing to melting of glaciers and extreme hot weather the river by now has turned into a big dam stretching over an area of more than 25 kilometers. About 27 thousand people living in up and downstream of the river have been affected directly or indirectly, whereas hundreds of Kanals of cultivable land, houses, schools and community centers have been submerged under the water.

Talking to Greater Kashmir Hafiz Hafeez-ur-Rehman the PML-N chief in the region said that a population of 30 to 50 thousand people of the Hunza valley was affected badly since the disaster struck the area. The internally displaced people he said were now living in more than 50 camps established in various areas in and around Gilgit Baltistan.

In order to safeguard the lives of the people Rehman said that in view of the rising water level in the lake people living in the suburbs of Hunza valley have been completely evacuated and moved to safer areas. “There is no risk of humanitarian loss in case there is a flood like situation in the area”, he said.

When asked about how many villages were affected due to this landslide-triggered lake on Hunza River he said, “About 40 villages of the Hunza valley have been directly affected and thousands of people have been displaced”.



However he stated that Non Government Organizations (NGO) were playing important role in serving the internally displaced people. Expressing dissatisfaction over what he called the inappropriate arrangements by the government of GB he said that incumbent regime has failed mitigate the sufferings of the people of the area.

He said that the region’s economy was badly shaken as there has been no trade and tourism activity in the area.

Meanwhile, the experts monitoring the Hunza lake situation have said that the water from the lake would start to flow through the spillway within a couple of days. All the arrangements have been made to deal with any emergency situation. While on the other hand government has put in place a round-the-clock monitoring system and early-warning mechanism in the area.


In case of the outburst, flooding could potentially damage the Karakoram Highway that would certainly be a major set back to region’s economy.

Sharah-e-Resham is the only road-link that connects the region with rest of the country and it also serves as economic back bone for Gilgit Baltistan.