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Home »Top Stories » No volcanic activity in Alai Valley, geologists tell Prime Minister

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  • Oct 26th, 2005
  • Comments Off on No volcanic activity in Alai Valley, geologists tell Prime Minister
The explosions in the mountainous Alai Valley are due to leakage of trapped gases and there is no evidence of any volcanic activity, geologists told Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Shaukat, who visited Alai on Tuesday, was informed that the team, especially flown in earlier from Peshawar after reports of tremors and explosions in the area, had found no such evidence.

"There is no chance of any kind of volcanic eruption or activity in the area," Geological Survey of Pakistan Director Ghaffar Afridi informed the prime minister.

To a question, the prime minister said that the government was conducting a seismic survey to ascertain the reasons of the aftershocks.

"Teams of seismic experts and geologists are surveying the area to identify any specific reasons which cause these aftershocks and tremors."

He said the government would share the information with the people, when something tangible is found. Military officials said that around 2,300 explosions were reported in the area, some of which also caused tremors and panicked the people of the area.

Military helicopters surveyed the area on Monday, but said they could not find any "greenish fires" in the mountains, as were reported in the media, however, they did find cracks and fissures in the mountain sides, a tell-tale sign of sub soil activity.

Shaukat, who has been visiting the quake-affected areas regularly, especially flew into the valley despite inclement weather, but had to cut short his trip, owing to rain.

The local military commander briefed the prime minister about the pace of relief work.

He said the people in the highlands had started moving to the valleys after the aftershocks, adding that the army was considering a plan to shift them to safer places away from the harsh winters.

He said the people would be initially shifted to the valley and then to Thakot, Havelian or Haripur. Shaukat said it was important that the people living on the mountains in the earthquake-affected areas move down to the valleys before the onset of the harsh Himalayan winter. "We will provide you shelter, food, medical care and schools for children and the weather will be more bearable," the prime minister informed a group of people at Allai Valley.

"It will get very difficult for the people to live without shelter, once the temperatures drop and it is not possible to construct houses in a few days," he added.

The picturesque valley, which bore the brunt of October 8 devastating earthquake sub-district of Batgram and remained cutoff till Monday with the rest of the country, came in the media limelight after reports of continuing aftershocks and explosions, causing panic among its people.

The Geological Survey director told APP that their study had found nothing to suggest that there was some kind of volcanic activity in the area and the explosions were caused by the escaping gases into the air through fissures. He said there was movement of tectonic plates towards north.

He said the release of the energy stored had caused havoc in Muzaffarabad and Balakot. However, there was not much risk in these areas as much of the pressure had already been released and only minor tremors were likely.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2005


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