Pakistan evacuating villages, digging spillways to drain lake expanding behind landslide

Swelling lake forces mass evacuation in Pakistan

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Dozens of villages in northern Pakistan must be evacuated as army troops dig spillways to drain a swelling lake that has submerged homes and roads since being formed by a massive landslide, the army’s chief engineer said Thursday.

The lake is rising at a rate of three feet (one meter) per day and already has submerged dozens of homes and farms in the remote mountainous area close to the border with China.

Lt. Gen. Shahid Niaz said 25,000 people had already left by boat after the lake covered roads leading out of the Upper Hunza Valley following the Jan. 4 landslide. Thousands more from 36 villages on the Hunza River downstream are still in the danger zone.

Niaz said arrangements had been made for any emergency. He spoke amid fears the rubble that created the lake could collapse, causing flash floods that would endanger downstream villages.

Niaz did not give a figure for the area currently covered by the lake, but said it stretched for 10 miles (16 kilometers). It is expected to begin draining from the spillways by the end of the month, he said.

The spillways were designed to be a temporary fix. Officials said rains in July would likely cause the rubble to collapse, but enough water would have drained by then to minimize the deluge.

Niaz also downplayed worries that a collapse would threaten the Tarbela Dam 240 miles (400 kilometers) downstream, which is the world’s largest dam made from earth and rock. The Tarbela Dam was too far downstream and “faces no danger,” he said.

A breach would further inundate portions of the already blocked Karakoram Highway, a vital trade link to China.