CHITRAL: Thousands of students in the flood-hit villages of Chitral Valley are unable to attend their respective schools as the connecting bridges have been washed away by the flash floods.
The Yarkhoon valley in Upper Chitral is the worst affected where both the jeepable and the pedestrian bridges connecting the Miragram, Emit, Phashk, and Sunich villages with Bang village were swept away by the floods.
The students, including girls, from these villages won’t be able to attend the government higher secondary school situated in Bang village till the bridges are rebuilt.
The absence of a bridge will also bar over 200 students of Bang village from attending classes in the Aga Khan girls’ high School in Miragram village. Flash floods have washed away most bridges in the region
The collapse of the pedestrian bridge over the Yarkhoon River would hamper students of Dumadumi village as they won’t be able to attend school in Awi village.
In the sub-valley of Khot in Upper Chitral, the hamlets of Andraghech, Kishik, and Nichhagh have lost their contact with the Lasht Khot area, where the government high school for boys and girls are located, due to the collapse of bridges over a nullah.
The hamlet of Sorech in Rech village is yet another area devastated by the glacial lake outburst flood rendering about 100 households homeless with students being unable to attend school.
Keeping in view the situation, the Upper Chitral administration extended the summer vacation till August 8.
In Lower Chitral, the sub-valley of Sheshi Koh is the worst affected by the glacial flood, which emanated from the Madak Lasht area, sweeping away the valley road at a length of 40 kilometers from its starting point in Drosh.
The flood also reportedly washed away more than two dozen pedestrian and jeepable bridges over the nullah that divided the valley into two halves.
All the schools exist on the left bank of the nullah and the access of students to the right bank won’t be possible till the bridges are rebuilt, while the stream is still in high floods due to the melting of glaciers triggered by persistently high temperatures.
In Drosh town, students coming from small hamlets of Wardap, Hakeem Abad, and Khairabad are not able to reach the high schools due to the collapse of a pedestrian bridge near Wardap.
A number of small hamlets in sub-valleys of Karimabad, Arkari, Gobor, Bumburate, Rumbur, Arsoon, and Ashrait have also lost their pedestrian bridges to glacial floods.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2024
