Uttarakhand is home to Chardham, the four Hindu holy sites of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath. Hemkund, another area, is a Sikh pilgrimage centre. The State’s mountainous terrain is also a trekker’s paradise. Each year, during the month of June, thousands of pilgrims and adventure sports enthusiasts make a beeline for Uttarakhand. Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was among the pilgrims stranded when rains played havoc, flattening homes, villages, roads and shrines.
The disaster
In June this year India witnessed the ‘Uttarakhand disaster’, triggered by heavy rain, resulting in a huge loss in life and property. Experts have termed this the worst tragedy since the 2004 tsunami. Over 5,000 people are estimated to have died or gone missing in the floods and flood- triggered landslides. The deluge left thousands of pilgrims stranded.
Bridges, roads and highways were washed away, and villages flattened by the floods. Although the Uttarakhand disaster was caused by a heavy cloudburst, causing the river Mandakini to swell and run in spate, experts have cited government apathy and a failure by authorities to arrest indiscriminate construction of buildings.
The cloudburst
Every year, the SouthWest monsoon brings rain to most parts of India between June and September, and the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issues daily bulletins on its progress and intensity. The IMD issued a ‘heavy rains’ alert in mid-June, which however was not treated seriously by the authorities, pilgrims or tourists. Between June 15 (late night) and June 17, cloudbursts and torrential downpour resulted in record rainfall for many States, including Uttarakhand. A cloudburst is when an extreme amount of rainfall – as much as 20mm in a few minutes – occurs, which could bring close to 100 mm of rainfall in an hour. A cloudburst is capable of causing flash floods, and triggering landslides.
What happened in Uttarakhand
Although the rainfall in mid-June fell over many States including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and parts of Nepal, Uttarakhand was the worst affected. Media reports say record rainfall occurred in less than three days, causing the Chorabari glacier to melt. Simultaneously, river Mandakini also swelled, leading to flooding in many areas including Kedar Dome, Rudrdaprayag district of Uttarakhand and adjoining States. The swollen river, melting snow and incessant rain caused huge landslides, and villages were washed away in minutes. Ram Bada, the transition point to Kedarnath, was one of the places affected. People were stranded in tourist spots like the Valley of Flowers and Hemkund. National Highway 58, a key link road, was washed away. Pilgrims were stranded without food, drinking water and medicine for three days. On June 18, over 10,000 pilgrims were stranded at Badrinath, on the banks of the river Alakhnanda. Kedarnath temple took a severe beating. Images of the statue of Lord Siva floating on flood waters were flashed in the media and shared on social networking sites. Roads became unusable in nearly 500 places. This was a disaster of monumental proportions.
Kedarnath temple
The sudden melting of ice and snow on Kedarnath mountain, just 6 km from the Kedarnath Temple, led to flooding of the temple and a lot of rocky debris was washed on to the temple’s perimeter. It also caused a stampede at the temple, leading to injuries and deaths. Even after a week, not all the dead could be removed, due to the inaccessibility of the area, and continuing rain. Days later, the temple town looked battered and temple authorities have said it might be a year or two before pilgrims are permitted back, after completion of repair work.
Relief and rescue work
The biggest challenge for the authorities lay in carrying out relief and rescue operations for both the dead and the alive. There was also the additional worry about the fate of over 5,000 mules left to fend for themselves in the severe catastrophe. These mules are a favoured mode of transport for pilgrims, but with many of their handlers either missing or dead, their wellbeing became another worry.
Authorities had the Army, Air Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Security Force (BSF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) work in tandem to mount rescue and relief operations. Thousands of soldiers were deployed, while social activists and political parties set up rescue relief management centres.
With bridges battered and access roads closed, airlifting the stranded was the only viable option left. However, poor light conditions (due to fog) and a steady downpour were major obstacles to the mission. By the end of June, the IAF had flown 2,137 sorties, and airdropped nearly 3,36,930 kg of relief material and equipment. Nearly 18, 450 people were airlifted.
The rescue operation claimed more lives. On June 25, an IAF rescue helicopter crashed on the mountains near Gauri Kund, killing everyone on board. It was carrying 20 rescue personnel from the IAF, NDRF and ITBP .
Aid pours in
A month after the disastrous cloudburst, rescue efforts are still under way. Schools in the affected areas are yet to reopen after the summer vacation, since many of the buildings have been affected. The Uttarakhand government has said that Chardham will be open to pilgrims only after two years, when repair work is completed.
Tourism, a major source of income for the State, has been severely impacted and the economic loss is still being calculated. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a relief package of `1000 crore towards disaster relief work in the State.
Many other State governments, industrialists, actors and others have come forward to raise relief material and aid for the affected areas.
Lessons in environmental conservation
While rebuilding of battered areas is being undertaken, environmentalists feel that there are lessons to be learnt from the tragedy.
They feel that any construction activity along a river bed –shops, hotels or even infrastructure projects – should be undertaken after ensuring that the natural flow of the river is not interfered with or built upon.
There is also a need for authorities to share information provided by agencies such as the IMD on rainfall alerts, and take necessary steps such as evacuation of people in low-lying areas and other vulnerable sites to safer ground.
Above all, ecological balance must never be tampered with.