The Pakistani Spectator

It was the first week of January, when a huge lake came into being in result of land sliding in Hunza Valley near village, Ata Abad. This land sliding stopped the downward flow of Hunza River, and it created a lake of almost 12 miles long. At this time, all the experts and Pakistani media is showing only one side of this picture, which shows this water reserve as a dangerous natural disaster that will flow the whole Pakistan away. However, I do not think this is the only fact.

Well by now there has been written and spoke a lot on this issue, and when I look at my work I find myself late but its true I spent time in reading the work of others and listening to so-called and real experts’ opinion. It took time for me to develop an opinion and gather some facts to share here.

If we look at the history, Himalaya region has always been considered as geographically unstable area. According to experts, the basic geographic structure was formed as result of Tecnoic Activity of Mesozoic, and Menozoic era. This is an unparalleled zone of Arabian Sea. Earthquakes hit this unparalleled area in result of “Euro-Asian Plate” movement, the earth quack of 8th October was because of the same factor.

Same thing happened in January, due to underground movements in Hunza Valley of Gilgit Baltistan, a huge amount of mountain and scrap fell into Hunza River. This created a huge natural lake. The experts and the organizations attached to Hunza Lake are of the opinion that the only thing to be done is take the water out of this lake as early as it can, because if the take breaks due to water pressure it will result in huge disaster.

Professor David Paitely of Durham University, International Center for Land sliding says:
If this lake water kept filling like this, the floodwater will reach the downward area i.e. Tarbella Dam. The flow of this water will be extremely fast and the waves will be 40 feet high.

I have no idea why we people are taking this lake as a threat rather than accept is as gift of Mother Nature. To the best of my knowledge, this lake is 330 feet deep. I cannot find such a huge reserve of sweet water on the whole map that is pasted on the wall of my room, even on web I am so far fail to find it. I consider this as a reservoir or a dam, which is a gift of nature with spending a single penny. If we started to build such large dam, it might have taken ten years and a cost of millions of dollars. There must have been additional costs related to such project i.e. interest of the loans taken from different institutions to build the dam, Fee of the experts imported from the world.

I think we should do something sensible rather than creating fuss over this issue. We should keep the required amount of water in this natural reservoir, and let the additional water join the river to keep it flowing. Such huge water reserve has the capacity to generate the electricity. The energy generated by the water falling from 200 feet is sufficient to make turbine work, and our country, which is a victim of power crises, can utilize this natural gift. One more thing, it can be a tourism attraction and, I guess, fishing industry can also get its share out of this.

The Karakorum Road is also under water and the road connection with China is disconnected. I was reading somewhere that the history of this road is quite interesting. Earlier a larger part of this road was built on high mountains, but with the passage of time, the height of road was lowered. Right now almost 12-15 KM of the road is under water. According to Professor Dr. Moin Udin of federal Urdu University,” this is not a big problem as for an alternative the same length of road can be built on some height”.

The real problem is the rehabilitation of the people affected because of this lake. Government must arrange alternative residence and employment for the affected people. According to some experts, on proffered basis the bank of this reserve must be observed properly and steps must been taken to strengthen the bank. I think it will cost less then building a whole new dam, well I can say this after reviewing the details of Deamir Bhasha Project, which is expected to end in 2016 and the cost is going to be 12.6 billion Dollars.

Pakistan is already facing the water and energy crises, and according to experts right now, Pakistan is in need of four big dams. Therefore, here is a readymade dam that is the gift of Mother Nature. The least we can do is to take care of it.