Zalzal Lake: Beauty carved by tragedy

Tourists visiting this lake, created by 2005 Earthquake, cannot avoid feeling a mix of joy and sadness.

MUZAFFARABAD:

Its name has a unique significance, because this picturesque lake that tourists throng to may be striking in its beauty, but it rests by a mountain under which 1,200 people were buried alive.

This natural lake was created at the back of Chakaar, a famous hill resort some 55 kilometers from Muzaffarabad after the disastrous earthquake in 2005. The earthquake cut a huge mountain in the area blocking the flow of two nearby mountain streams. This lake came to be called Zalzal Lake (Earthquake Lake), which is now a tourist spot in the area. The water of this natural lake flows and merges into the river Jehlum near Hattian Bala.

“Tourists from both Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and other parts of the country visit the lake during all four seasons. However, in summers, tourists on day trips visit the lake in large numbers, at times hundreds per day; they enjoy hiking on the lush green mountains close to the lake,” said Assistant Commissioner Chakaar, Qazi Wasim, talking to The Express Tribune. Qazi added that besides the lush green covered areas near the lake, boating is also a source of attraction for the tourists and visitors enjoy boating immensely.

A tinge of sadness

The villagers of the adjoining areas of this lake still miss the people who were buried under the mountain that helped create this lake. More than 1,200 people of the village Lodhiabad that came under the mountain lost their lives. Nambardar (village head) of Lodhiabad, Muhammad Sharif, was among the 1200 people who were buried alive in the rubble of the mountain.

Sharif is still remembered by his friends living in the nearby village Kurli. Saad Akbar was the best friend of Sharif. While talking to The Express Tribune, Akbar said that whenever he visits the lake, it refreshes the wounds the earthquake of 2005 inflicted on AJK. “Our near and dear ones were buried alive and killed.”

Muhammad Ashraf, a resident of Kurli village lost two sons in the earthquake. He said that it was the decision of Allah and “being a Muslim we should accept it”. However, Ashraf said that the horrific death of 1,200 villagers of Lodhiabad is a painful fact for everyone who visits the lake.

“When we tell the visitors that 1,200 people are under the mountain that was cut by the earthquake, and this is how this lake was created, this bit of information brings shock over faces of tourists. Some female tourists start to cry,” said Ashraf.

The silver lining

The influx of tourists from all over the country has provided an opportunity to the local people to earn and make their livelihood better which is a blessing of this lake, said a shopkeeper Khawaja Adrees, hailing from Chakaar.

“In 2005 we heard about the lake, and since the last two years we have been visiting the area. The weather is pleasant; it seems that we are in Murree,” said Dr Rehana who had come to visit Zalzal Lake with her husband and children.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th, 2014.