SURMO Baltistan 3.83

Surmo is an important region with respect to military and transportation networks. Its biggest bridge, Surmo Bridge, links Siachen region with the district headquarter Khaplu, as well as Chorbat Valley, making this valley strategically important.
Surmo was formerly a fertile and prosperous area. A well-known local expression was "Surmo ma drang na gar ma drang" ("If your stomach is not full or stuffed in Surmo, there is no other place it would be.") The shift in flow of the Shyok river caused considerable damage, the slow and steady kind of devastation that resulted in landslides. The river ate lot of fields, after almost a century or so its now the remaining 20% of the fields that are on the river side, the most cultivated fields cut off due to flood in Shyok river. Surmo Broq, the fields that are located some hundreds of feet above the valley, is one of the beautiful Broqs in Baltistan. Ringbothang, a newly cultivated land near the bridge, is another source of earning and farming. Another enormous uncultivated land of Surmo is called Tunga which is opposite to Lunkha on the other side of Shyoke river.