Rock breakers, northern Pakistan

Breaking rocks with metal mallet, blood and sweat.

After a glacial lake burst high up in the Karakoram mountains in 2015, a torrent of rocks and water came flying down the mountain side without warning and in an instant much of Singal village in was destroyed.

Lives, land and livelihoods in this remote village of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan were lost and a community changed forever.

Glacial lake outburst floods, as they are called, are increasing in frequency due to the effects of a warming climate.

Triggered by the rapid melting of glaciers, earthquakes or landslides, these events release massive volumes of water and cause catastrophic damage to everything that lies in their path.

Following the 2015 event, the people of Singal village - near to the old Silk Road trade links that connect this region to western China - decided to put in place mitigation measures in an attempt to protect themselves from future events like this.

With technical support from the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, the men in these photographs are using the rocks that came down the mountain to build - by hand, rock by rock - protective walls that could channel a flooding river’s flow away from people, community assets and property in the event of another glacial burst.

It takes experience and knowledge of rock textures to know where the seams lie that can be used to crack open each rock.

A cracked rock.

The cracked rocks are then broken down into smaller flat edged rocks that can be stacked on top of each other and used to create the protective walls.

Metal wire is then used to wrap around the walls to ensure they maintain their shape.

Building up a wall.

The boss directing the team.

A wall emerges from the rocks on the left. To the right of the wall is the river bed. In the event of flash floods during high Summer, the river can swell and destroy property and land and endanger lives.

A completed section of the wall. It’s easy to see from here how much manual labour and time is required to do this work. No doubt the men are fortified by the knowledge that this wall will protect their land, families and community.

When I visited this this Singal village in 2015, I witnessed the destruction of a recent flood and rock avalanche. The river bank burst and some people’s homes were completely destroyed. Precious farmland was also lost.