The proverbial ice age: Life freezes over as temperatures plummet in G-B

Without running gas or electricity, residents burn through wood and money to stay warm.

GILGIT: When Aslam Khan woke up on Monday morning, there was not enough water in the house to wash with.  The water in the taps and in buckets had frozen overnight as the temperature dropped 10 degrees Celsius below freezing point in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

According to the meteorological department, temperature in parts of G-B, including Astore Valley and Baltistan, dropped from -14 to -19 degrees Celsius this week.

For those living in mountainous areas, winter transfixes life, making it very hard to step out and face the elements, even for necessities.



“Winter is like hell in this region,” shared the 40-year-old businessman, who lives in Gilgit town. “In January, water isn’t available in the morning; what is abundant is ice,” said Khan. Not only stored water, lakes and rivers also freeze during December - January period in the region.

“You can’t do much about it, especially if you are poor or from the lower middle class,” said Khan about the unrelenting chill which holds the area in a vice-like grip and even immobilises it.

“I try to keep my family warm by burning timber round the clock; even then, the heat inside the room is no match for the biting cold.”

Another resident explains the room is only comfortable closest to the fire – getting out of a blanket to relight the wood is more than an effort.

The cost of fending off frostbite

At least 20 kilogrammes of timber is needed to keep the fire going throughout the day. This means running up a daily bill of Rs300 just to buy the wood – for many, keeping the fire going is tantamount to burning money.

It is exactly in this miserable cold when power production falls to lowest and consumption peaks, as people spend more time indoors. Extended power outages hit every sector hard, adding to the frustration.

The residents of Gilgit – the capital of G-B – deal with 20 hours of load-shedding a day. With no running gas, and power cuts, they depend on timber as the only source of heating in the region.

“About 99% of the population uses firewood as the main source of domestic energy,” said Zafar Khan of the World Wide Fund (WWF). “On average, a household of 5-8 members consumes about 5-7 tons of firewood during the six-month long winters.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.