The disaster in Hunza seems inevitable as the government efforts are totally sufficient and are unlikely to get better as the politicians, from top to bottom, are utterly useless and much too busy in making money through illegal means. Our government officers are also the same. It is now up to us, the civic society, to save Hunza and its people. The media has to play a very vital role in creating awareness so that if something terrible, God forbid, happens here, the segment of population glued to the media would at least know. Just to fill in the details your readers might not know, the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) has stopped excavation of the spillway they were creating in the landslide debris that forms a barrier at the mouth of the lake in Attaabad, Hunza Valley. The risk of spillover or even a burst out has increased exponentially as the free board is reduced to 28 ft because of the surging water level caused by increase in the Hunza River inflows to around 2500 cusecs. The contingents of Pakistan Army have been mobilized to evacuate vulnerable communities living on both sides of the Hunza River in Gilgit and Hunza and Nagar districts. According to information, the Special Communications of Pakistan Army has established an optic fiber link between Attabad and Karimabad to communicate the vital spillover information in real time. It is pertinent to note that the Army, FOCUS Pakistan and the local district administration of Hunza/Nagar have been jointly monitoring the lake from a camp established by FOCUS in Attabad. They have also been visiting the downstream villages to convince the people to leave their houses and shift to safer locations. Tent villages have been established by FOCUS Pakistan and Pakistan Red Crescent Society at different locations to accommodate the potential IDPs. Pakistan Army will forcefully evict the vulnerable population if they dont leave their houses in time because the threat of a flooding disaster seems inevitable. The water has entered the commercial areas of Gulmit. The people there are dismantling the buildings and moving their assets to safer locations. In Gulmit, the lake has already submerged 120 shops. 38 houses and the local community center is also under threat. The lake has also started submerging the low-lying areas of Ghulkin and Hussaini villages now. According to the latest reports the length of the lake has increased to 18 kilometer with maximum depth of 334 feet. Over 20 kilometers of the Karakoram Highway has so far been submerged. -HAIDER LATIF, Islamabad, May 19.