Pakistan
Destruction in Gulmit
[slideshow]
PT Report
[slideshow]
PT Report
administrator
Pamir Times is the pioneering community news and views portal of Gilgit – Baltistan, Kohistan, Chitral and the surrounding mountain areas. It is a voluntary, not-for-profit, non-partisan and independent venture initiated by the youth.
Fortunately for Gulmit, the water will probably be leaving the area soon. Hopefully the area will recover sooner rather than later.
I’m hoping for a relatively slow release, but that does not look likely.
Noor!! would you please post more pictures from other villages like shishkat, hussaini and passu. Thank you for your kind services. I am sure you will post some pictures from the rest of the villages too.
From watching lots of videos on this disaster I have come to the conclusion that wood is scarce in Hunza. Which explains why villagers were salvaging trees that had fallen with the landslide, and a women scavenging planks from Attabad, and these villagers dismantling their houses to keep the woodwork away from the water and reuse it in their future homes.
It is not so easy for a foreigner like me to understand this, I could not understand at first why people were making holes in their houses.
I haven’t seen any conifers growing in this valley, but a large quantity of poplar trees instead.
Now I am wondering if anybody in the area of Attabad noticed strange behavior by animals before the landslide because usually animals have foreknowledge, they feel vibrations which we don’t, and try to get away from the place that will suffer a catastrophe.
If anybody witnessed or heard about unusual animal behavior it would be interesting to collect their accounts.
Yap,
Truly depicted that this area is scarce of wood. It has more poplar trees then conifer because it doesn’t lie in the monsoon region, rather some hight then that. The region of Hazara and some of Chilas fall in the monsoon region.
If the stranded people will not evacuate their house. The water will just wash their wood roof away. So they are doing so.
Please stop those people dismantling their houses!! The dam will breach soon and the water will recede in a few days! Why destroy houses rather than simply dry them afterwards?!?
They’re not destroying their houses, they are taking the wood frames away from the water to put them back on after the water is gone. Look at the new picture showing wood stored on high ground.
If the wood frames for roof, doors and windows is submerged it will have to be replaced because it will warp out of shape when drying.
These villagers give a good lesson to everybody in how to survive and help each other to preserve their property.
Adding to Brigitte’s reply, most of the houses are made of soil which dissolves in the water. The walls will never stand like before after the recession of the water…. The cemented houses are the mixture of cement and riverbed sand which also gets dissolved in the water… so there is no option but saving the wooden structure.
it makes us Very sad, still destruction is going on we dont know when will it come to an end.
Hi,
the cultivable/wooded area is very less compared to the population..afterall this area is big mountains and in the nature of a dry desert…so naturally wood is scarce. A house which has been submerged ( even partially ie if the foundation is waterlogged) for some time is no longer safe ..will have to rebuilt. feel sorry for the displaced persons…