‘Riverbank construction’ led to disaster
PESHWAR: As videos of huge multi-storey concrete structures being washed away by floodwater within seconds went viral on social media, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa officials said most of the buildings in question were hotels built along the riverbank, rather than houses. The tourist destinations of Swat and Kalam were the first targets of what officials say was a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). Speaking to The Express Tribune, a senior serving K-P bureacrat who served as a deputy commissioner in Swat questioned why the Town Municipal Administration and Irrigation Department issued No Objection Certificates for multi-story buildings along the riverbank knowing that these areas are fragile. “The British marked everything. The road is the boundary between the river and construction. I wonder who allowed construction across the road on the river banks,” the official asked. “I saw two hotels swept away by floods. Both were running on stay orders obtained from the courts. Now tell me