Climate Change Induced Disasters Caused By Glacial Lakes

The Ministry of Climate Change Thursday said for the past ten years, climate change induced disasters have taken momentum in the valley, particularly the floods caused by glacial lakes.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2018 ) :The Ministry of Climate Change Thursday said for the past ten years, climate change induced disasters have taken momentum in the valley, particularly the floods caused by glacial lakes.

Talking to APP, Ministry of Climate Change's spokesperson Mohammad Saleem said the Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) occur when the ice walls containing the reservoir fail, sending entire lakes down to inhabited areas below. During such emergencies, there is severe loss of lives and physical assets.

Spelling out the expected outcomes and benefits of the GLOF Phase�II, he said that 95 percent of households in target communities in KPK and Gilgit-Baltistan areas will be able to receive and respond to early warnings about glacial lake outbursts and consequent floods in their areas and take the appropriate mitigation actions to save their lives and livelihoods.

Besides, 250 small-scale engineering structures will be established to reduce the effects of GLOF events on livelihoods, such as tree plantation, controlled drainage and mini dams, fifty weather monitoring stations will be set up in GLOF-vulnerable areas to gather meteorological data in catchment areas and 408 river discharge sensors will be put in place to obtain river flood data, the spokesperson added.

"All these data from different technological sources will be useful for developing hydrological modeling for enhancing resilience of the mountain communities, particularly living along the flood water channels," he said.