India is not the only country feeling the pressures of a prolonged and unusual heatwave. The unusually hot conditions has led to a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in the high mountainous area of Gilgit-Baltistan, a part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. A GLOF is a sudden release from a lake which was formed from the waters of a melting glacier.
On May 7, 2022, a lake on the Shisper Glacier unleashed a flood that swept bridges and damaged the Karakoram Highway, leaving people running away for their lives. The floods submerged houses, agricultural land, trees, water supply outlets, underground cable networks and two hydropower projects.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said that the outburst has mainly been caused by temperature rise in the northern parts of the country. In the past 20 days, water volume had increased by about 40% due to glacial melting. About 3000 glacial lakes have been created in these regions due to rising temperatures, out of which more than 30 could burst any moment. If the melting continues, lakes could get overwhelmed with water sending torrents downstream.
The IPCC has warned us that glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region or HKH for short, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. IPCC’s 2019 special report on oceans and Cryosphere had said that this region could lose 60% of its glaciers by 2100. The HKH comprises mountain ranges of the Tien Shan, Kun Lun, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Himalayas, and Hengduan and the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau. They together are the largest freshwater source in the world. Global warming will not only not create more GLOFs but also water scarcity for a population of nearly 1.3 billion in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and China. Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s federal minister for climate change said that the two regions of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunwa need special attention because they have a huge number of glaciers which are losing mass, putting life and property at risk.
This region has been going through an intense heatwave with Jacobabad and Sibi in Pakistan recording 47C on April 29, this year. But bad news is that the Pakistan Meteorological Department warned that the temperature could rise 7-9 degrees above normal in Gilgit Baltistan in the next couple of days.
16 сен 2024
