Deforestation and glacial melting are the two leading causes compounding the climate crisis in the north of Pakistan.
By Alia Chughtai and Marium Ali
It was a routine day, and 26-year-old Muntazer Mehdi had performed his mid-afternoon prayers. Then, after lunch, the mountains started growling.
The tailor, who lived in Chogogrung village at the foothills of the Siachen glacier – the world’s second-largest non-polar glacier – knew what he had to do: Run.
Mehdi, his wife and their two children had to flee their home in late July after glacial melting led to a lake outburst. “We knew what was coming because of how loud the clanking of the rocks was, and the water stream stopped,” he said. “We had just enough time to make it to a higher elevation and save ourselves, but all our life savings, home, livestock, it’s all gone, wiped out in a few moments.”
