Why Yakhnama exists

Pakistan has 13,032 glaciers and more than 3,000 glacial lakes, a Senate committee was told in September 2026 (Minute Mirror, 22 September 2026). Satellite counts give 3,044 glacial lakes in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa together, of which 33 were assessed as hazardous (Green Climate Fund, FP018). Suparco, the national space agency, watches a wider list of potentially dangerous lakes: 130 according to Dawn (Dawn, 27 June 2026), 131 according to Pamir Times (Pamir Times, 6 August 2026).

A glacial lake outburst flood happens when a lake held back by ice or by loose rock and debris releases its water suddenly. At Shishper in Hunza, the glacier began surging in May 2018 and blocked the stream from the Muchuhur glacier, forming a lake that bursts in warm months (Arab News, 8 May 2022).

Heat makes outbursts more likely. In June 2026 the Pakistan Meteorological Department warned that high temperatures would substantially accelerate snow and ice melt, and issued an outburst alert for Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 27 June to 3 July (Dawn, 27 June 2026).

About 7.1 million people in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa live within reach of these floods. The same Senate briefing heard that 171 valleys in Gilgit-Baltistan are at high risk, and that people may have only 15 to 30 minutes between an outburst and the flood reaching them (Minute Mirror, 22 September 2026).

Floods and landslides here cut the few roads that connect whole valleys, and take homes, farmland, power and water with them.

• Roads and bridges. On 7 May 2022 an outburst from Shishper destroyed the Hassanabad bridge on the Karakoram Highway, Pakistan's road link with China. More than 15 houses, farmland and two power houses were also damaged (Arab News, 8 May 2022).
• A whole season. Between 30 June and 26 August 2022, a Gilgit-Baltistan government report counted 110 flash flood disasters, 14 deaths, 383 houses fully and 257 partly damaged, and 52 bridges, 22 power houses, 49 roads, 78 drinking-water lines and more than 500 irrigation channels damaged or destroyed, with losses above Rs 7 billion (Pamir Times, 26 August 2022).
• Cut-off valleys. In July 2026 the Baltistan Highway was cut when a bridge washed away. Four districts of Baltistan and Astore were isolated, Astore was without electricity for five days, and food and fuel ran short in Skardu, Diamer and Astore (Dawn, 25 July 2026) (Dawn, 28 July 2026).

Newest first, each dated as precisely as its source allows. Figures are as reported at the time; later counts may differ, and figures from different reports are not added together.

• Early September 2026, Ghizer, Hunza and Diamer. Cloudburst floods destroyed houses and blocked the Karakoram Highway from Sost to Khunjerab; no casualties were reported. The report counts 120 cloudburst floods in Gilgit-Baltistan between June and August 2026 (Asia News Network, from Dawn, 7 September 2026).
• 22 to 28 July 2026, Skardu, Shigar, Ghanche, Kharmang, Astore, Haramosh and Hispar. 89 flood incidents: 130 homes destroyed and 162 damaged, 20 bridges washed away, 18.2 km of road ruined and 230 people relocated (Dawn, 28 July 2026).
• 22 July 2026, Hisper, Nagar. After days of extreme heat, an outburst washed away about 300 ft of the Hisper road at Apiharai and 800 ft at Bayo Khai; thousands of residents and tourists were stranded (Dawn, 25 July 2026).
• To 20 July 2026, eight districts. The Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority counted 60 disaster events, 184 houses damaged (49 fully), 9 bridges destroyed and 7.86 km of road washed out; no deaths were reported (The Express Tribune, 26 July 2026).
• Late June and early July 2026, Nagar, Ghanche and Ghizer. The NDMA warned of outbursts, flash floods and debris flows. A suspension bridge over the Hushe nullah was submerged, and the Karakoram Highway and other roads were blocked (Dawn, 2 July 2026).
• 22 August 2025, Gupis, Ghizer. An outburst blocked the Ghizer River for about eight hours and destroyed about 70 houses. 200 people were evacuated and no one died; a working early warning system was credited (Dawn, 22 August 2025).
• August 2025, Danyore, Gilgit. A landslide struck volunteers repairing a flood-damaged water channel. Arab News reported seven people killed and six injured (Arab News, 12 August 2025).
• 20 to 22 July 2025, Babusar Top, Diamer. A cloudburst and landslides: at least three people killed, 15 missing and more than 30 vehicles swept away (Al Jazeera, 22 July 2025) (Aaj News, 22 July 2025). By 24 July, flash flood deaths in Gilgit-Baltistan had risen to six (Dawn, 24 July 2025).
• By 2 July 2022, Ghizer, Hunza, Nagar, Shigar and Ghanche. Melt floods in a heatwave swept away a bridge linking eight villages in Badswat, Ishkoman, and blocked the Karakoram Highway at Hassanabad (Dawn, 2 July 2022).
• 7 May 2022, Hassanabad, Hunza. The Shishper outburst destroyed the bridge on the Karakoram Highway (Arab News, 8 May 2022).

What is known about past events is scattered: in news reports, in agency reports published as PDF files, in phone messages, and in the memory of the people who lived through them. There is no shared, open and structured record of what happened, where and when, what it damaged, and who said so.

Official counts of the same season differ. For the 2022 monsoon, a Gilgit-Baltistan government report gave 14 deaths and losses above Rs 7 billion (Pamir Times, 26 August 2022); a Senate committee was told of seven deaths in the region (Dawn, 16 September 2022); a disaster management official later estimated losses of Rs 10 billion (Pamir Times, 20 May 2023). Each figure may be right for its own dates and counting, but nobody can line them up.

Warnings depend on data too. In September 2026 a Senate committee heard that 151 of the 174 early warning systems provided in Gilgit-Baltistan were working, that warnings can take two to three hours to pass from the weather service to provincial authorities, and that responsibility is split between several federal bodies (Minute Mirror, 22 September 2026). Early warning covers 24 valleys, against more than 3,000 lakes (Global Voices, 26 June 2026).

Without a shared record, the same questions come back after every flood: has this valley flooded before, how often, and how badly? Each answer is pieced together by hand, and lost again afterwards.

A record that is dated, placed, sourced and honest about its uncertainty can be used again and again. These are possibilities that such data opens up, not things Yakhnama does today:

• Research on how often hazards happen, where, and whether that is changing.
• Risk maps that show which villages, roads and bridges have been hit before.
• Early warning: past events show where sensors and warnings are most needed. At Gupis in August 2025, a working warning system was credited with saving lives (Dawn, 22 August 2025).
• Planning roads, bridges, water channels and homes away from known paths of floods and slides.
• Insurance and aid that reach the places that are hit most often.

Researchers in the region already show what modern methods, including machine learning, can do with good data:

• mapping landslide susceptibility along the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit-Baltistan from satellite radar, with an inventory of past landslides to learn from (Scientific Reports, 27 February 2023);
• tracing glacial lakes in radar images over time, as a step towards automated outburst warnings, in a study from Nepal (arXiv, 30 December 2025);
• estimating outburst susceptibility across the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalaya from satellite and terrain data, in a preprint not yet peer reviewed (EGUsphere preprint, 8 July 2026).

All of them need a reliable, open record of past events to learn from and to be checked against.

• Report what you see, with photos if you can: report a hazard.
• Use the record in your research, reporting or planning, and tell us what is missing: hello@yakhnama.com.
• Support the running costs: Support Yakhnama.