Over 30 GLOF incidents reported in northern Pakistan: officials

ISLAMABAD: As many as 30 incidents of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) have so far been reported in the mountainous region of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral in the end of July and first three weeks of August this year due to ‘unprecedented hot weather’ prevailing for several days in the northern Pakistan in the summer season, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) officials and locals said.

“As per our knowledge, at least 30 incidents of glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) have so far been reported in the months of July and August this year from the northern Pakistan, especially from Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral areas.

At the moment, we are assessing the loss of lives and property due to these GLOF incidents as access to many valleys is extremely difficult,” a senior meteorologist with the PMD told The News on Monday.

At the start of monsoon season, Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman warned the provincial disaster management authorities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan of heavy rains and asked them to ensure timely measures to prevent the loss of life during the glacial lake outburst floods as unprecedented temperatures were recorded in these areas during the summer.

“Maximum temperature used to remain around 40 degrees Celsius in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan in the summers but this year, maximum temperature of 43 degrees Celsius was recorded in these areas for several days in the months prior to the start of monsoon season. This led to speedy melting of snow and ice in the mountains, and coupled with recent rains, many of the glacial lakes burst suddenly, causing floods which damaged bridges, houses and other properties in these areas,” PMD expert, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said.

According to the Ministry of Climate Change, around 3,044 glacial lakes have been developed in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) due to rapid melting of glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountain ranges (the Hindukush, Himalayas and Karakorum) because of rising temperature in Pakistan.

“Of these 3044 glacial lakes, around 33 lakes have been assessed to be prone to hazardous glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF). GLOF are sudden events which can release millions of cubic metres of water and debris, leading to the loss of lives, property and livelihoods amongst the remote and impoverished mountain communities,” the PMD official said, adding that over 7.1 million people in GB and KP are vulnerable as in these areas, 26.7 percent and 22 percent of the population, respectively, are below the poverty line.

Ironically, the Pakistan Meteorological Department is not aware of the actual number of GLOF incidents as it does not have observatories, weather and warning stations and rain gauges installed in most of the remote mountainous region, the officials said, adding that mostly, they rely on locals, their social media posts and reports from the local administration regarding the extreme weather events like GLOF.

The PMD official maintained that entire Pakistan, especially the plains of Sindh and Balochistan witnessed unprecedented, back-to-back heatwaves in the months of April, May and June this year but added that the summer also remained very harsh in the mountainous regions of GB and KP, including Chitral, which intensified the melting of the snow as well as ice, leading to the GLOF incidents.

Speaking about the Shishper Glacier melting, he said the melting of this glacier has been resulting in the GLOF incident in Hussainabad area of Hunza area consecutively for the last four years, adding that the glacial lake outburst flood, due to the melting of Shishper glacier, every year since 2019 has become a serious cause of concern for the locals.

“First GLOF was reported on June 23, 2019, when the incident discharged around 5,000 cusecs of water, next year on May 29, 2020 around 3,000-4,000 cusecs of water was discharged due to GLOF at the same point. Last year, on May 15 2021, around 8,000 cusecs of water was discharged after the GLOF incident and now this year on May 7, over 10,000 cusecs of water was discharged due to the GLOF incident,” the meteorologist added.

To a query, the meteorologist said in order to increase surveillance and help locals warn of the GLOF incidents, the PMD is going to install Automatic Weather Systems (AWSs), Early Warning Systems (EWSs), rain and water discharge gauges and establish warning posts at the 24 valleys of GB and KP to monitor the situation and prevent loss of lives and properties before the GLOF and other extreme weather events.

“At the moment, the locals have their own ways to get alerted, when GLOF is going to happen. This knowledge works sometimes and sometimes, they remain unaware of the impending catastrophe. The installation of latest equipment would help us monitor the situation and prevent loss of precious lives and properties in the northern Pakistan,” he added.