CHITRAL, April 26: Speakers at a workshop here on Thursday said that glacier lake outburst floods (GLOF) were posing threat to Hindukush-Himalya region that could play havoc with human settlements.

They stressed the need for taking steps to reduce the risk.

The workshop titled ‘Reducing risks and vulnerabilities from glacier outburst floods in northern Pakistan’ was organised by GLOF Project.

The speakers said that northern Pakistan was home to 3,218 glaciers and 2,420 glacier lakes while 52 of those were declared potentially dangerous.

They said that outburst of glacial lakes devastated a number of villages including Sonoghur in upper Chitral. “Many other valleys are endangered by GLOF, which is a climate-induced phenomenon,” they added.

The speakers included Chitral DCO Rahmatullah Wazir, GLOF Project national programme manager Khalil Ahmed and deputy secretary of Ministry of Climate Change Syed Mujtaba Hussain.

“GLOF is sudden discharge of a huge quantity of water from a glacial lake. It causes flood up to hundreds of kilometres of downstream and undermines the already meagre sources of people living in hilly areas,” they said.

The speakers said that communities residing in GLOF-prone mountain valleys were highly vulnerable to the disaster. They said that people living in the region needed awareness on how to reduce the risks, posed by GLOF.

In this connection, a project is being launched in Droongagh valley in upper Chitral. The area lies in the vicinity of Gohkir and Bindo Gol glaciers having 1,500 families.

The project, for which an amount of $4.1 million has been allocated, will help local communities in reducing the risk of flood. It will also help people in the project area to minimise losses to their properties, lives and livelihoods in case of flood.

The workshop was participated by the representatives of civil society organisations of the project area, senior government officials, climate change experts, academicians and NGOs working for environment, climate change and disaster risk reduction.