From Our Correspondent
CHITRAL: A girl died and dozens of houses were damaged after glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) hit Yarkhun Lasht village in Chitral on Sunday.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has expressed sorrow over the losses due to glacial outburst and floods in Yarkhoon area of Upper Chitral.
In a statement, the chief minister directed the district administration and rescue workers to launch relief activities at the spot. Mahmood Khan also directed the concerned authorities to compile a report of losses and provide essential items to the affected population.
Earlier, a report of the GLOF, sent by the deputy commissioner to the provincial government, highlighted the flooding situation after glacial bursts at Yarkhun Lasht area on Friday last. The dead body of the girl was also retrieved from the flood stream caused by the GLOF incident. The girl belonged to the Yarkhun area of Chitral.
At least 25 houses were damaged while 17 of them washed away in the flooding after the glacial lake burst, according to the report. Eight houses were partially damaged in the flooding incident.
After the incident, three tons of relief goods were dispatched to 59 houses of the affected area, the DC said in the report. “All link roads, which were blocked after the incident, have been restored for traffic,” according to the report submitted to the provincial government.
According to local reports, the flood at Yarkhun Lasht in Chitral occurred at about 6:00am and was caused by the bursting of a glacier. A female student of class 10th had gone missing after the flood. Her dead body was later recovered near the village. People ran to safety as the flood hit Yarkhun Lasht village, which consists of about 80 to 90 houses. The stream that flooded was located at the northern end of the village but after the flood incident it has changed its course and is passing in the middle of the village, local people said. It is to be mentioned here that Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has issued a weather Alert regarding Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) events in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) till August 17.
