‘Floods threaten historic Ghor’s Jam Minaret to slump ’

FEROZKOH (Pajhwok): Besides human and financial losses in different parts of the country, the floods have also increased risk of collapsing of the historic Jam Minaret in western Ghor province, an official said Thursday.

Provincial Information and Culture director Maulvi Abdul Hai Zaeem told Pajhwok Afghan News the devastating floods in the country caused human and financial losses and harmed the Jam Minaret of Ghor province.

Zaeem said: “Unfortunately, the flood has forced its way inside minaret and there are still deposits of water inside the minaret, if immediate action is not taken, this minaret will collapse, floods have separated the clay of the minaret and increased the risk of the minaret collapsing.”

He added: “The main problem is the closed roads, however the local director for the office of this monument made some efforts to decrease the risk of monument collapsing, but he could not do considerable work because he was alone, now efforts are underway to open the roads firstly.”

The Information and Culture director emphasized that urgent steps would be taken to protect the ancient monument and they contacted the authorities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and the UNESCO office to save such monuments.

A number of residents near the Jam Minaret said that the recent rains and flooding in this area have damaged the body of Jam Minaret and increased the risk of its collapse.

Ahmadullah, one of them told Pajhwok: “The flood that came from Jam river to the minaret was very high and the water level of Harirud river had also increased which brought more stones and sand and blocked the water channel of the river and the water from both sides went to the body of the minaret, which caused a lot of damage to the minaret.”

Ziaulhaq is another resident of Ghor, he expressed concern about this ancient monument and he said: “Neither the government nor the UNESCO organization paid any attention to restore and retain this monument in the past two decades, the recent floods had caused a lot of damage to the minaret.”

He added: “This ancient monument sustain damages of natural disaster every year, the UNESCO promised to restore it but did nothing, they just visit what happens, this time the risk of collapsing of this minaret is very high.”

He asked from the government and UNESCO to retain the sides of this minaret and build high retaining walls near the monument to prevent the flow of floods from the body of the minaret.

The Jam Minaret of the second oldest minaret built from bricks and is registered with UNESCO.

Aw/nh