17 October 2010

Updated: Attabad – NDMA make a full set of reports available online, plus an article in the Economist

Posted by Dave Petley

The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in Pakistan have now made four reports about Attabad available online here.  These are as follows (with the correct links to each):

  • The dam break study undertaken by NESPAK.
  • A report by Alessandro Palmeiri, from the World Bank
  • My report on the landslide.
  • A report by the Geological Survey of Pakistan dating from before the landslide event about the hazards at the site.

Interestingly, although my report is included NDMA have not asked my permission to post it there, and nor did they inform me that they had done so.  Indeed, at no stage have they communicated with me about Attabad, beyond a single line reply to an email that I sent to them.  However, I am pleased that my report is easily available.

Update: The Economist has today also published a short article on Attabad, which is available here.  Meanwhile the Express Tribune reports that the long-promised compensation will finally be paid to the local population, and that deepening the spillway will start within a month.  Finally, there are two Attbad related papers being presented at the forthcoming AGU conference in San Francisco:

  • Hunza Landslide and Monsoon Flooding in Pakistan Call for International Attention to Transboundary Natural Hazards by J. S. Kargel; W. Fink; R. Furfaro; G. J. Leonard; M. Patterson. 
  • Satellite Monitoring and Characterization of the 2010 Rockslide-Dammed Lake Gojal, North Pakistan.  by G. J. Leonard; J. S. Kargel; R. E. Crippen; S. G. Evans; K. B. Delaney; J. F. Schneider