Bindu Gol: GLOF project interventions minimized losses

CHITRAL: Projects launched in phases in Chitral minimized the losses from glacial outburst floods recently recorded in Bindu Gol etc.

The damages to means of livelihood, including agricultural lands and orchards, were beyond calculation. Pakistan GLOF Project, one of the initiatives to create awareness and prepare the communities against the floods, has been working in the area.

Under the project, protection walls, safe places and tracks were constructed in the valley whereas considerable focus was also laid on implementing active early warning systems. According to the local community, the steps taken by GLOF project have practically contributed in early warning as well as safeguarding of life and properties.

Local people said had there been no protection walls and early warning systems, the scale of devastation in the valley would have been far greater. According to the local community members, the risk reduction and adaptation measures, especially early warning system, played a key role in saving human lives and reducing disaster risks to local livelihood means.

Keeping in view the successes of Pakistan GLOF Project in Bindu Gol, there is a dire need to replicate these adaptation measures in other vulnerable valleys as well. In addition the recent GLOF events throughout the length of district Chitral demand sustained efforts to reduce the risk and formulation of policy measures to avoid future disasters in the form GLOF.