On 7 January 2022, a snowstorm occurred in Murree dropping more than 4 feet (1.2 m) of snow, killing 23 tourists who had visited to see the thick snow. Many died as temperatures fell to around negative 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 F). The hill station is a popular tourist destination, located roughly 40km (25 miles) from the Pakistani capital Islamabad and attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually.
The Murree incident was tragic in every way while lack of coordination at every level a significant factor. The death toll was not due to cold but due to carbon monoxide. A day before the incident, hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of Pakistan had driven to the high-altitude town of Murree to see the snowfall. News reports quoting traffic authorities revealed that more than 155,000 vehicles entered Murree in the past week, out of which 135,000 returned safely but the rest became stranded. Several vehicles became stuck on the roads due to the snowfall and thousands of tourists spent the night on the roads. Snowfall began on Tuesday night and continued intermittently throughout the week, attracting many tourists. Murree is a popular destination for Pakistani tourists whenever it sees snow.
Tourists complained that hotels had driven up prices to capitalize on the massive influx of tourists, prompting many people to sleep in their cars. Rooms that normally cost Rs. 6,000-10,000 per night were being rented for Rs.70, 000 per night, while food prices were also marked up high. Prices for an average of Rs. 40 for a cup of tea skyrocketed to Rs. 700. This led to the hashtag Boycott Murree trending on Twitter on Sunday. All routes into and out of Murree were effectively blocked, leaving the tourists stranded. When it began to snow heavily, a lot of people left their cars on the roads to seek shelter in hotels, further contributing to the congestion. The district government office had issued an alert on 5 January warning that heavy snowfall could potentially cause road closures in the area from 6-9 January.
Soon after that, the Murree tehsil administration issued a travel advisory, urging tourists to check weather and traffic updates before coming. Since Murree is just a tehsil within the broader Rawalpindi district, the district administration itself did not hold a meeting to discuss the issue, although Deputy Commissioner said on social media that an increased number of traffic wardens were deployed.
The National Disaster Management Authority also did not call for a meeting with district officials to prepare for the increased traffic. Negligence by local authorities may have also contributed to the congestion: in some areas, over 13,000 cars were allowed onto roads that were only designed to accommodate 4,000 at a time. In some places, the heavy snowfall and strong winds caused trees to fall, blocking roads and in at least one case falling onto multiple vehicles. Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah came down hard on the NDMA over the Murree tragedy, in which at least 22 people died after their cars were stranded in a snowstorm, saying the fatalities would not have occurred if NDMA was “prepared and had taken prior measures”.
The tragedy could have easily been avoided if the authorities had taken a less cavalier approach towards the bad weather conditions and issued timely warnings to tourists.
For almost all of the past week, heavy rains have lashed Islamabad and Rawalpindi while Murree and nearby hill stations in the Galiyat area have received intermittent but heavy snowfall. The large inflow of tourists notwithstanding, which is mainly because the government makes no attempt at regulating the numbers, why did the authorities wait a whole week for the situation to get out of control? Hill stations have limited capacity, with Murree only being able to accommodate 4,000 cars at a given time, so why was such a huge number of vehicles allowed to continue onward? The government also announced plans to upgrade the administrative infrastructure in Murree, lifting its status to a full administrative district, establishing new police stations and building two new parking plazas in the town’s busiest areas.
The lack of coordination among all the governing bodies cannot be ignored. Everyone taken responsibility in such situation. People around the world are forced to stay indoors during snowfall because rescue operations are impossible in such situations. Murree incident was not only the result of lack of responsibility at national level but problems were increasing in the society due to materialism. Educating the general public from home and school levels about humanity. With the promotion of tourism in the national curriculum, the inclusion of training subjects in all walks of life, including the teaching of ethics and the rule of law, can be of great help in solving problems. Experts in other fields can play an effective role in promoting sensitivity in society.
The Murree tragedy was a reflection of extremely irresponsible behavior and humanity was not seen in the incident by the whole society. This incident has taught many lessons to all sectors, including the government. There is no denying the fact that the government had not been able to do any significant work in the last three years in Murree development.
With the government making Murree a district and giving it the status of a municipal city, the process of registering the existing residential hotels and houses has been started. Efforts are also being made to promote the hotel industry by constructing parking plazas, setting up a special rescue service force and bringing in a special helpline for tourists. Along with these the government must also issue warnings before such tragedy about the weather conditions, which means that all concerned authorities are particularly advised to remain “ALERT” during the forecast period.
Moreover, in light of the dire weather forecast, the authorities should have issued travel alerts to the public, warning families to desist from making weekend travel plans to the hill station. There is need to create respect for the law in society while the positive effects of the government writ will be felt in the days to come. Also make a mechanism for the inflow and outflow of regulating traffic mechanisms. And upgrade and develop latest rescue operation mechanism in such situations. The government must also look after those tourist spots and provide every type of facilities to the tourists to promote tourism.
The government must also launch an awareness campaign on responsible tourism. It should also formulate a long-term disaster management policy because of the weather severity is common, so only timely and actionable policy-making can help to control the situation. The government must also take actions for better management of the administration, discouragement of bribery and ensuring the rule of law and provision of social justice.
Rezwan Ullah, School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, also contributed to this article.
