Broken bridge: Thousands stranded after flash floods

CHITRAL: Thousands of residents of Yarkhoon in Upper Chitral were cut off from the rest of the district after flash floods on Wednesday. Former nazim of Yarkhoon, Muhammad Wazir Khan, told journalists more than a hundred residents were stuck in Chitral city and could not go to their villages as the connecting bridge, Zhwao Pul, was washed away. Khan said even though they had informed the district government multiple times about imminent flash floods, no steps were taken and around 15,000 locals were stranded as a result. “Now, we have to travel for one whole day to reach another connecting bridge,” Khan said, adding that they have appealed to the authorities to construct banks on the river as a safety measure, but they have failed to do so thus far.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2014.