Call to make Glof-prone Chitral valleys resilient to disasters.

CHITRAL -- Lower Chitral deputy commissioner Naveed Ahmed has said the region is highly vulnerable to glacial lake outburst flood (Glof) as it is surrounded by hundreds of glaciers.

He said the glaciers could not be stopped from being exploded by human effort, but their devastation could be mitigated by making the susceptible people resilient to the disaster.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of a workshop on 'preparedness for Glof in Chitral' arranged by UNDP for the media persons, he said during the disaster of the type in Golen valley in July, infrastructure of roads, drinking and irrigation water supply schemes was badly affected, incurring a cumulative loss of Rs350 million.

The workshop was part of the second phase of the UNDP's Glof project launched in August.

Mr Ahmed said the flood also damaged the 108MW Golen Gol hydropower station and it took three months to restore the generation. He said these losses could have been averted by designing the infrastructure resilient to the Glof threat.

He said the UNDP-funded project was need of the hour to create resilience among people by putting in place an early warning system, erecting safe havens and stockpiling of both food and non-food items.

He said the project should also impart training to those designing the physical infrastructure in such vulnerable valleys.

In his presentation, Met department meteorologist Manzoor Ahmed said the phenomena of rainfall and snowfall had become quite irregular...