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Avalanche alert in Pakistan and media reports of 2005 causalties
Jun 2, 2005 15: 40 EST
Since a 1993 climb on K2, Greg Mortenson has dedicated his efforts to set up schools in remote mountain villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan and probably spent more time in the region than most foreigners (60 months over 29 trips).
Just back from a six week project trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan, he reports that during the 2004 - 2005 winter season, more than 800 civilians and Army personnel were reported killed by avalanches in Pakistan Karakoram / Hindu Kush / Kashmir mountains. The actual fatalities are probably above 2,000.
"On this trip, I saw the most snowfall I've witnessed in 29 trips to the region since 1993. The Pakistan Meteorological Department has also issued a recent warning (below) for all 2005 mountaineering expeditions."
"Due to the highest snowfall in 40 + years, climbers and trekkers in the Karakoram / Hindu Kush should take extra precautions this year to avoid fatalities," he alerts the climbers and trekkers to the area this season."
Pakistan Meteorological Dept. Warning for all 2005 Expeditions May 18, 2005
"Due unprecedented heavy snowfall in this winter especially around K2/Broad Peak/Nanga Parbat/G1 /G2, the tracks/steepness have changed; and the risk of avalanches (due to loaded-snow) is high as compared to previous years. The coming expedition season may be very hard.
They should not depend on the mountain/tracks pictures of last years, try to get latest high resolution satellite pictures of K2. The frequency of westerly pressure waves approaching northern parts of Pakistan is still higher as compared to the normal, But some parameters indicate that it is likely to be normal gradually".
Note: Pakistan's Meteorological Reports have been fairly accurate in the past, especially in predicting the weather calamities during the heavy winter snows of 1995 - 1996, which led to significant climbing fatalities.
These predictions are from Pakistan, and for Pakistan Karakoram range, not Chinese K2.
2005 AVALANCHE MEDIA:
DAWN Newspaper; Avalanche kills 12 Pakistan soldiers in Siachen, May 31, 2005:
SKARDU: Twelve armymen were killed by an avalanche in the Siachen area on Thursday, sources said, adding that all the bodies except one had been found. Eleven bodies were brought to Skardu by a special army helicopter. Those who died were identified as Ghulam Murtaza, resident of Mianwali; Mohammad Arshad, resident of Haripur; Mohammad Nawaz, resident of Sahiwal; Nasrullah, resident of Sialkot; Ali Murad, resident of Ghizer district in Norther Areas; Mohammad Akram, resident of Mandi Bahauddin; Mohammad Shah Nawaz, resident of Narowal; Ibrar Hussain, resident of Abbottabad; and Mohammad Altaf resident of Mianwali. The names of the other three could not be ascertained.
Their funeral prayers were offered at the Combined Military Hospital here on Friday.
Associated Foreign Press; Seven feared dead in Kashmir avalanche, May 30, 2005:
SRINAGAR, India, May 30 (AFP) - Seven people are feared dead in an avalanche that swept through the village of Hajipora in southern occupied Kashmir early Monday, police said._
DAWN Newspaper; Avalanche kills three brothers in Gilgit, April 16, 2005:
GILGIT: A speedy avalanche killed three brothers in Haramosh village, 35km east of Gilgit, on early Saturday, also killing their 57 goats and cows.
A villager, Shahid Hussain, told journalists over telephone that the avalanche hit a house in the village when its inmates were asleep.
It killed Shabeer Hussain, 21, Khushdil Hussain, 18, and Hamid Hussain on the spot but their mother and another brother escaped unhurt.
The avalanche also hit their cattle pen in the backyard of the house and killed the cattle.
DAWN Newspaper; Bodies of six avalanche victims found, March 30, 2005:
PESHAWAR: Rescue teams of Pakistan Army have found bodies of six more soldiers of Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps, who were caught in an avalanche at Kot Mohammad Base in the remote Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency last month. According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, the soldiers have been identified as havaldar Niaz Khan (Haripur), sepoy Rasheed (Abbottabad), Lance Naik Mohammad Arshad (Mansehra), sepoy Arshad Ali (Mardan), sepoy Masta Jan (Landi Kotal) and sepoy Qadir Nawaz (Lakki Marwat). The bodies were found buried under 10 to 12 feet snow.
The body of Zafar was recovered by the rescue teams from the same area the other day.
Military authorities have expressed the hope that with the improvement in weather condition bodies of missing soldiers would be recovered. Last Month, about 24 army men went missing when an avalanche hit them during heavy snowfall in the mountainous Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency.
DAWN Newspaper; 32 army men killed by avalanche in Tirah, 12 February 2005 (By Intikhab Amir and Zulfiqar Ali):
PESHAWAR, Feb 11: At least 109 people, including 32 army men, have so far been killed and hundreds injured by week long unprecedented rains and snowfall in the NWFP and Northern Areas of the country.
In the remote Tirah valley, at least 32 army men were killed after being hit by an avalanche, reports reaching from the area said. However, officials of the Inter Services Public Relations told Dawn in Peshawar that 32 army troops and members of the Khyber Rifles were missing in the mountainous Tirah valley.
The civilian death toll in the snowfall related accidents rose to 77 in the Frontier province on Friday, forcing the provincial government to reactivate its disaster and flood warning centres in all the 24 districts.
At least 21 more people were reported dead, till the filing Of this report, in different districts of the province on Friday as intermittent rains continued for the ninth consecutive day in several plain areas of the province and mountainous regions experienced more snowfall.
"The army has started air and ground search operations to locate the missing soldiers," the officials said. Sources said a contingent of 64FF wing of the Pakistan army along with the members of the Khyber Rifles was posted at the Kot Mamad and Tirah Kachkol border checkpoints in the Tirah valley.
The two checkpoints are situated at 12,000 feet altitude. The Tirah valley has received more than 12 feet of snow during the last three weeks. Officials of the Khyber Rifles, while confirming the incident, said that army men posted at the Kot Mamad checkpoint had sought help from their colleagues in the nearby Tirah Kachkol checkpoint on Thursday after their trench caved in due to heavy snowfall.
A rescue party comprising 13 armymen and 19 members of Khyber Rifles headed by Lt Rehmatullah of the 64FF wing were hit by an avalanche. A member of the Khyber Rifles, Umar Khitab Bangash, who was left behind by the rescue party at the Kachkol checkpoint, informed officials at the Jarhobi army camp about the incident.
Talking to Dawn, the GDA DG said that a snow-removing contract for Rs2.4 million had been awarded to a private company who had sufficient machinery which includes three snow blowers and 6 bulldozers along with technical staff.
He pointed out that all the main roads were cleared in shortest time previously in the recent past snowfall but added that current snowfall spell, which is almost a record in past 40 years, was not letting snow-removing staff to carry out the job.
Ali Hazrat Bacha adds from Mingora: At least six people were buried alive and nine others were injured when a glacier avalanche hit houses in Balakot area near Kalam valley on Thursday.
The rescue workers recovered the bodies. Those killed in the incident have been identified as Bakht Mal, daughter of Hukam Dad; Aishah (11), daughter of Samdar; Hashmat Bebi (17), daughter of Samdar; Shaheen Bebi (21), daughter of Samdar; Zulekha (16), daughter of Muhammad Tahir; and Mehboob Khan, son of Muhammad Tahir.
Tariq Naqqash adds from Muzaffarabad: Two armymen were killed after they were hit by an avalanche as the death toll in the area climbed to the six because of torrential rains and heavy snowfall here, officials said on Friday.
The latest casualties occurred in the Leepa valley on Thursday, as the area received four to five feet of snow, a police officer told Dawn. He identified the victims as Mohammad Banaras and Sarfraz Khan.
Earlier, two men were killed after an avalanche struck them in a village of the Bagh district. A woman was also in the same area due to roof collapse. Another man was killed after his house caved in due to incessant rains in Bhimber district.
The rains and heavy snowfall have also caused landslides blocking several roads linking the AJK with Pakistan. The main road link between Muzaffarabad and Islamabad via Murree hills has remained closed for more than a week.
DAWN Newspaper; Avalanche kills two Pakistan Armymen in Landi Kotal, February 7, 2005:
LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency): Two personnel of the Khyber Rifles were killed when they were hit by an avalanche in the Tirah valley near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border about two days ago.
Reports reaching here from the valley said that Havaldar Ayaz Khan Khattak and Havaldar Khaliq Zaman Khattak were posted at the Brekh Mamad Kandao border post. On Friday morning, the two were hit by the avalanche when they came out of their trench and were buried under the snow.
Greg Mortenson works for the Central Asia Institute in Bozeman, MT.
Image from the Karakorum area, ExplorersWeb files.
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