Islamabad, May 28: The increasing 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 in Gilgit Baltistan who had to flee 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 its flow completely. A village near Attabad also came under the mudslide that killed more than 17 people on January 4 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.
 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 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.” 

Lastupdate on : Fri, 28 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 28 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 29 May 2010 00:00:00 IST