CHITRAL: The people affected by an avalanche in Sher Shali village of Karimabad valley here have complained about the government’s apathy towards their misery.

The avalanche killed 10 people and destroyed 25 houses rendering their own on the streets of late.

Didar Ali Shah, Taj Mohammad, Zafar Mohammad, Nadir Khan and Adina Shah told a news conference here on Tuesday that the naib tehsildar visited their village three days after the incident, while the medical team of the health department showed up on the fourth day.

They however praised the personnel of Shoghore police station for reaching the village shortly after the incident to participate in search and rescue operation started by villagers on self-help basis to recover the bodies and the injured from under the debris.

The villagers said the road leading to the village was closed by heavy snow and therefore, villagers shifted the injured and patients to the hospital six days after the incident.

They said unfortunately, the road was still closed to vehicular traffic.

The villagers said they cleared snow from a six kilometers stretch of the road but couldn’t remove the avalanche from one side of the road and therefore, goods sent by the government and other relief agencies didn’t reach their village from Shoghore village.

They said their village was highly vulnerable to landslides and avalanches.

The villagers demanded the government relocate 58 families, whose houses were located in the high risk zone, by offering them residential units at safer places.

They demanded the early reopening of the road to transport essential goods to their village.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2017