KARIMABAD // Thousands of residents in the northern Pakistan valley of Hunza, threatened by the imminent breakage of a massive landslide dam, face difficult choices this week.
The dam, formed on January 4 by a devastating landslide that obliterated the village of Ata-abad and killed 19 riverside residents, stretches back 20km to the village of Husseini, about 750km north of Islamabad, the federal capital.
Contractors working with army engineers created a dam aimed at preventing a collapse. On Sunday they said the dam contained an estimated 1.2 million cusecs of water - potentially enough to send a 30 to 50-metre-high flash flood crashing down the valley, if the dam were to suddenly collapse. A cusec is a unit of water flow equal to one cubit foot per second.
Contractors working with engineers of the army's Frontier Works Organisation said on Sunday the weight of the lake had shifted against the dam, and he water was rising faster than anticipated by the government, which has predicted May 25 as the earliest date waters would flow into the 25-metre dam. Shakoor Ali, a contractor, said: "It has risen by four feet since [Saturday]. It's now only a matter of four, maybe five, at the most six days before the dam starts giving way," he said.
The Frontier Works Organisation stopped work on Sunday and pulled back machinery and personnel to a hillside camp at Hassanabad, 20km downstream.
The Pakistani authorities, who have declined offers of help from foreign governments and non-governmental organisations, have ordered 13,000 downstream residents to leave by Thursday to schools and health clinics more than 30 metres above the riverbed.
However, many villagers are reluctant to evacuate because farming is their livelihood. The lake's rise has coincided with the start of the May-to-November agricultural season, when snows from the Karakorum mountain range recede.
Apricot, cherry and mulberry trees are close to harvest, while recently planted crops of carrot, cauliflower, potato and spinach need regular irrigation and tending.
That reluctance, as well as concerns about the modesty of their womenfolk in a cramped communal setting, prompted residents of Juttal village, home to 400 households, on Friday to refuse to comply with orders from local police to evacuate. Their refusal led to an angry standoff and some scuffling.
The villagers are demanding the provision of tents at sites of their own choice, but the authorities have limited preparations to establishing nine relief centres - only one at Karimabad - where 45 to 60 days of food, medical provisions and army doctors are to be positioned.
Ali Mohammed, a retired army sergeant and a resident of Juttal, said: "We are, without exception, poor people, and we've already been forced to cut our poplar trees so that they are not lost to the coming flood.
"We are appealing to the government to do what is needed before it is too late and we lose everything."
More than 1,060 residents displaced from Ata-abad, and the subsequently submerged villages of Aaienabad and Sarat villages, are housed in schools at Altit, 5km uphill from Karimabad, and other neighbouring villages.
Family matrons said each classroom, kept warm with government-provided carpet and underlay, and a rudimentary "Bukhara" stove, housed three families.
However, they complained that they had received little government assistance since being relocated, and supplies of food were intermittent.
Khawaja Khan, a government doctor, said the displaced communities also needed specialist care to deal with pregnancies and childbirths.
The imminent overflow of the lake at Ata-abad also threatens to isolate several thousand residents living upstream, where the Hunza Valley turns into a high-altitude desert in the summer, and the only alternative access is to China along a stretch of the Karakorum Highway, notorious for landslides and seismic activity.
Residents of Husseini, a village at the upstream end of the lake, said the half of the village located on the eastern bank of the Hunza River was on the verge of being cut off by the rising waters before the dam overflows.
The dam is barely a metre below the suspension bridge connecting it to its sister settlement, but villagers, like their cousins downstream, are prepared to take the risk of being cut off because of their dependency on growing crops.
Email:thussain@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
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SPECS
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The%20specs
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
'Gold'
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh848,000
On sale: now
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Jawan
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAtlee%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shah%20Rukh%20Khan%2C%20Nayanthara%2C%20Vijay%20Sethupathi%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E4%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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Company%20Profile
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Company%20Profile
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate
Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid