Hunza lake still poses a great danger to the lives of tens of thousands of people in Pakistan. Population in the low lying areas over the expanse of hundreds of miles are faced with the danger of being washed away once the lake's raw banks gave way or the ever increasing spillway buckles in.

Raw Nature Created Lake

The lake was created by a huge landslide that blocked Hunza Rivers passage at Attaabad, Hunza. There a huge lake came into being that kept increasing for many weeks. The expanse of the lake kept growing and finally reached to 16 miles. A gigantic force of cumulative water has been tapped within raw, nature-made, undependable banks that can spell disaster anytime to thousands of people, houses, farms, roads, bridges and other structures in the path of the water down stream.

Before the water started flowing through a hastily constructed spillover on 30 May, 2010 the lake kept rising by more than 3.5 feet everyday. Many villages were drowned in the lake and the pattern on a slower pace continues.

Current water outflow is recorded at 16,500 cusecs which keeps fluctuating. However, due to weather conditions the outflow is not able to match with the increasing inflow that is still higher than the outflow and stands at 17,000 cusecs. Resultantly, the lake level is still rising marginally, thereby, threatening more villages their elimination.

The Karakoram Highway and Many Bridges Under Threat

The Karakoram Highway and many bridges on it are under threat of being washed away. A huge economic loss as well as severing of Pakistans road link to China is feared. The K.K. Highway, more famously called Silk Root due to its importance as regards Pakistan's trade and commerce with China, blockade will gravely affect Pak-China commerce and hit Pakistan economy very hard.

People of Hunza have demanded of the government to widen the Attaabad spillway. The government, due to unexplained reasons is delaying. Protests demanding immediate expansion of the spillway were held on June 18-19, 2010 in Tehsil Gojal and Ali Abad.

People expressed their extreme dissatisfaction over government measures regarding repatriation of people displaced by the rising water of the lake. On 21 May 2010 Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousif Raza Gillani, visited the area despite the fear of land sliding and assured the people of the governments efforts to ameliorate their suffering.

Local Government Takes Initiative

According to APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), official news agency of Pakistan, taking note of the seriousness of the situation the local government negotiated with the people and assured that authorities would blow up the boulders amid the spillway to enhance the outflow up to 30.00 to 40.00 cusecs.

Once the outflow is increased, people expect the water level of Attaabad lack will decrease and they will be able to recover some of their lands.

Lt Gen (Retd) Nadeem Ahmed, who is supervising governments rescue operations in the area, does not agree with the demand of widening the spillway that has already reached the width of 118 feet. About 33 villages in down stream area have been evacuated to safer places to protect them form flooding. People of these villages are allowed to go to their homes for routine business only in day time.

Information

The lake was created by a huge landslide that blocked Hunza Rivers passage at Attaabad, Hunza. There a huge lake came into being that kept increasing for many weeks. The expanse of the lake kept growing and finally reached to 16 miles. 

  First appeared in the Suite101 on Jul 2, 2010