HUNZA, Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) is putting all out efforts to ensure immediate release of water from the artificial lake formed on Hunza River due to the devastating landslide of Jan 4. It has excavated about 50,122 cubic meters of debris from the spillway point.
This was stated by Let-Col (retd) Khawaja Sohail Hafeez, Director Public Relations, FWO, while talking to media persons at the disaster site here on Saturday.
He said the troops were working under harsh weather conditions where generally the temperature remained below zero degrees Celsius.
The restricted space is also limiting the use of more machinery and labourers to clear the boggy soil where heavy machinery sinks down impeding its full capacity performance. Despite all these hurdles, FWO has employed maximum machinery on the site and is working from dawn to dusk to make water channel in the slide at the earliest.
Mr Hafeez said, we have standby machinery at the site and will get more if necessary
Updates from Ayeenabad and Shishkat, Gojal
Tracking the flow of water in Hunza-river lake
Photographs of extended lake from Gulmit
The lake starts destroying low laying parts of Gulmit
The famous tourist spot, Gulmit Suspension Bridge, also an important connecting route between Gulmit, Goharabad and Shishk would no more be usable.
Splashes of water reached the suspension bridge today, as water kept rising in the lake
Houses, markets, a bank office, hotels, fields and wood factories are likely to be affected by the surging lake water
The lake water is likely to rise by around 20 meters more causing destruction in low laying parts of Gulmit
A view of the lake from a spot where rafts were operated during the 1974 blockage of Hunza River
