MUZAFFARABAD: While the recent spell of unrelenting rain has rendered around 36 families living along a natural lake created by the October 2005 earthquake homeless, officials fear more displacements as consistent soil erosion threatens another adjacent settlement.

The lake was created at the rear of Chikar, a hill resort located some 50 kilometres south of here, after the devastating earthquake sliced a huge mountain in the area and blocked the flow of two mountain streams. Named as Zalzal Lake, it became a tourist spot afterwards.

Excess water of lake merges in River Jhelum through an outfall towards the town of Hattian Bala.

However, in February 2010, the reservoir’s earth-filled dike could not withstand the pressure of increasing water level due to excessive rain and caused flood in the downstream areas.

Rain also triggered landslides in Kurli village, towards the Chikar-Sudhan Galli side of the lake, partially or completely damaging more than 155 houses and eventually forcing the families to move safer places.

However, according to officials and residents, some of those families returned to the affected area after sometime and were living there ever since.

“Following the recent incessant rains, the land beneath those houses started sliding, thus rendering them unlivable,” Qazi Wasim, assistant commissioner Chikar told Dawn.

He said all 36 families evacuated from the landslide prone area were temporarily rehabilitated with residents of an adjacent settlement.

“We are living with other people and we do not have any piece of land to build new homes there,” said Raja Saleem, one of the affected persons.

On Sunday, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) secretary Farhat Ali Mir visited the area along with other officials for firsthand information on rehabilitation of the affected people and other issues.

He told Dawn on the occasion that SDMA had already dispatched tents for the affected families and the local administration was in the process of acquiring a piece of private or public land to establish a temporary tent village.

“We will also be providing them one month ration,” he said.

However he said since the tent villages were not a long term solution he had already suggested to the government to provide them compensation for purchase of land on their own for permanent rehabilitation.

They would also be allowed to salvage items from their damaged houses and use them for new constructions, he added.

During the visit, it transpired that the hamlet where the Kurli residents had been rehabilitated with families itself faced a similar threat due to persistent land erosion.

“The water channel that finally merges into the lake is eroding the base of the terraced mountain which is home to around 200 houses,” assistant commissioner Wasim told this correspondent.

The SDMA secretary said a team of geologists and engineers would be rushed to the area on Monday to suggest short-term and long-term measures to prevent further soil erosion.