Floods in Gilgit-Baltistan

A heatwave that has lasted for a long time is not only affecting India. Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in the high mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan, a region of Pakistan, has been brought on by abnormally hot weather. A GLOF is a rapid outpouring of water from a lake that was produced by the melting of a glacier.

In 2022, a lake on the Shisper Glacier Gilgit Baltistan released a torrent that washed away bridges and damaged the Karakoram Highway, forcing people to flee for their lives on May 7, 2022. Agricultural area, trees, water supply outlets, underground cable networks, and two hydropower plants were all buried by the floodwaters, which also flooded dwellings.

In the northern areas of the country, an increase in temperature is to blame, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). There has been a 40% rise in water volume in the last 20 days owing to glacier melting. More than 30 glacier lakes in these locations might burst at any time owing to increasing temperatures, which have formed around 3000 glacial lakes. Water may flood lakes if melting continues, causing torrents to flow downstream.

Our glaciers are especially susceptible to climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region, as warned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). IPCC's special ocean and cryosphere report for 2019 predicted that this area might lose 60 percent of its glaciers by 2100. Tien Shan, Kun Lun, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalayas and the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau are part of the HKH mountain ranges. With their combined water supply, they constitute the world's greatest freshwater source. More GLOFs and water shortages are both predicted as a result of climate change in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and China, which together have a combined population of about 1.3 billion people. Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa need particular attention due to the large number of glaciers that are losing mass and endangering people's lives and property there.