Sunday, May 9, 2010

The landslide at Attabad - new videos of the spillways and the drowning land upstream


The lake behind the landslide at Attabad in Hunza, Pakistan continues to fill, meaning that we are probably only a fortnight or so away from the maximum point.  I have not had an update from either NDMA or FOCUS for 48 hours, so am unsure as to how things have developed in the last two days.  However, The Pamir Times has tonight posted three videos on Youtube that are worth watching.  The first shows the spillway on 8th May:



This shows just how close to the top of the dam the water level has now reached. The second and third show the impact of the rapidly rising water level:







The sight of people destroying their own homes to recover building materials is pretty dreadful.  Remember that most people in this area live on the basis of cash crops, and that their only real assets are their buildings, their land and their crops.  For this reason, regardless of what happens at the spillway, the Attabad landslide is a disaster for the people of Gojal.

6 comments:

  1. So stupid of people to destroy their own homes to recover building materials when they might resurface in a few weeks!

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  2. Pretty harsh words when you actually include the word "might" in your comment.

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  3. Mr. Anonymous, you are right with your limited yet stupid knowledge. First it is not gonna surface, because the building material-soil or sand & cement- will be dissolved and wood become useless... just for your knowledge... It is not somewhere in UK or USA....

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  4. Because you haven't built a house with your own. In Hunza, there is no Lowes or Home depot from where people can buy building material. Popular is usually used to build houses which take 15-20 years to become a reasonable size. Basically, the affected community is trying to save wood which can be reused.

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  5. the new trend on which whole world believe is sustainble development,and i guess recovering material of material is one of the sane step taken by people of our area.come out of your own shell mr anonymous

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    ReplyDelete