The Atta Abad Landslide and Everyday Mobility in Gojal, Northern Pakistan

Nancy Cook,David Butz

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-13-00013.1

Abstract

Abstract In early 2010, the massive Atta Abad landslide blocked the Hunza River in the Gojal region of northern Pakistan. It also buried or flooded 25 km of the Karakoram Highway, the only vehicular transportation route connecting this region to the rest of Pakistan. Since the Karakoram Highway opened in 1978, road mobility has become deeply integrated into the everyday economies and time–space fabric of Gojali households. In this paper, we focus on what happens when a natural disaster unexpectedly slams the brakes on movement as a way to understand more fully the sociodevelopmental implications of roads in the rural global South. We review the history of mobility in the region to explain the importance of the Karakoram Highway as a mobility platform that restructured sociospatial relations in Gojal. We then turn to interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and local news sources to outline how residents of 4 Gojali communities were experiencing the economic, social, and emotional impacts of landslide-induced m...

Highlights

BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research
We review the history of mobility in the region to explain the importance of the Karakoram Highway as a mobility platform that restructured sociospatial relations in Gojal
Allan developed an ‘‘accessibility model of mountain land use’’ in conversation with prevailing almwirtschaft models that emphasized the vertical stratification of climatic and vegetative zones in mountain regions (Allan 1986: 191). He argues that these older models are rendered obsolete in the context of northern Pakistan by the Karakoram Highway (KKH) and the link roads that join it from neighboring valleys

Summary

MountainResearch Systems knowledge

Open access article: please credit the authors and the full source. In early 2010, the massive Atta Abad landslide blocked the Hunza River in the Gojal region of northern Pakistan. It buried or flooded 25 km of the Karakoram Highway, the only vehicular transportation route connecting this region to the rest of Pakistan. Since the Karakoram Highway opened in 1978, road mobility has become deeply integrated into the everyday economies and time–space fabric of Gojali households. We turn to interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and local news sources to outline how residents of 4 Gojali communities were experiencing the economic, social, and emotional impacts of landslideinduced mobility disruptions in the 18 months following the disaster

The context of disaster

Experiencing disrupted mobility

Findings

Conclusion