CHITRAL: While the long snowy winter is around the corner in Upper Chitral, families displaced by floods in remote Yarkhun valley are struggling with shortage of food and absence of shelters as help is not reaching them due to accessibility issues.

The floods washed away 74 houses in three villages of Yarkhun and partially damaged at least 400 houses in other parts of the valley. Though Chitral was declared a calamity-hit area on August 22, government departments are still assessing the damage and haven’t reached out to the displaced people to help them reconstruct their houses.

The situation in Broghil, located near the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan, is reported to be more alarming with residents living in rain-damaged houses and running out of food items due to blockade of the only road to the area for over a month.

Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in two nullahs in Brep since 2007 had already washed away about 70 per cent of the village and this year rendered 52 more families homeless.

CHITRAL: While the long snowy winter is around the corner in Upper Chitral, families displaced by floods in remote

Karam Ali Saadi, a social worker, told Dawn that floods also inundated 50 other houses in the village along with a government high school for girls besides damaging standing and harvested crops and orchards from which the locals used to earn a handsome income every year.

Moreover, flash floods and river flooding displaced eight families in Khuz and 14 in Pavur. Water supply lines and micro-hydel power stations in those and many other villages were destroyed, cutting off supply of drinking water and electricity to the consumers, he said.

Talking to Dawn by telephone, Brep village council member Mir Rahim, who is also one of the displaced persons, said that except tents and ration for a month, they had so far received no assistance from the government. He said that displaced families were living with their relatives but they needed shelters of their own before the winter season.

He said the government should arrange prefabricated houses for them before the onset of the snowy weather.

Former councillor Nawab Zaman said that the people, whose houses were safe, lost their farms along with crops and fruit trees. They also needed assistance for rehabilitation, he added.

Chief Minister Mehmood Khan visited Brep two weeks ago and told the affected people that Rs400,000 would be paid against each totally damaged house from the Rs1 billion funds he had already announced for the two districts of Chitral.

The chief minister had said that funds would be released in a week. “However, so far there is no progress on payment of compensation,” said Mr Zaman.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

Regional engagement
Updated 13 May, 2025

Regional engagement

If terrorist groups continue to find sanctuary in Afghanistan, regional integration and increased trade will be difficult to achieve.
Hostages to hostility
13 May, 2025

Hostages to hostility

AS people breathe a sigh of relief after being locked with India in a hair-trigger stand-off, there are those for...
Water crisis
13 May, 2025

Water crisis

IN large parts of Karachi, there is no water to be had. The taps have run dry for the past 12 days, bowsers have ...
The way forward
Updated 12 May, 2025

The way forward

An out-of-the-box solution acceptable to Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris is the only hope for long-term peace in South Asia.
AI opportunity
12 May, 2025

AI opportunity

TIME is running out. According to the latest Human Development Report, published by the UNDP this past Tuesday,...
Ace mountaineer
12 May, 2025

Ace mountaineer

NINE summits, five to go. Sajid Ali Sadpara’s quest to fulfil his late father’s dream and elevate Pakistan’s...