Man responsible for natural calamities: experts

CHITRAL: World Disaster Reduction Day was observed in Chitral. In this regard, a ceremony was held at University of Chitral in which Adviser to the Prime Minister on Climate Change and Environment Malik Amin Aslam was also present and planted a sapling at the university lawn.

Speaking on the occasion, experts said in most of the natural calamities, man was involved and they harmed the surrounding environment with their own hands. The event was sponsored by the GLOF 2 project.

They said Chitral is one of the red zones where there was a constant risk of large scale earthquakes. Similarly, climate change is causing centuries-old avalanches to erupt and melt which leads to catastrophic floods. They said two glacier eruptions in Golen caused floods and, similarly, for the first time an avalanche erupted in Yarkhun Valley which killed a girl and destroyed 26 houses.

GLOF-II project is a joint venture with various agencies which will prepare case studies of different valleys and work on various projects to protect these areas from damage in the form of natural calamities.

Experts also urged the public to play their part in keeping the environment clean as the government alone cannot do everything.–GH Farooqui