DEHRADUN: Five people were killed after a landslide struck Jumma village in Uttarakhand’s border district of Pithoragarh on Sunday night.
Two people, who were injured, have been airlifted to Dharchula town for treatment. Search operations were progressing as of Monday night.
Sources said three children were among the five killed. A team of State Disaster Response Force personnel was dispatched to the spot on Monday morning.
“The team of administration and SDRF were deployed early in the morning along with a chopper. We are monitoring the situation on the ground. Arrangements have been made to ensure supply of essentials items to safe shelter,” Ashish Chauhan, district magistrate of Pithoragarh district said.
“We got to know about the incident early in the morning and left for the spot to help those affected,” said Nadeem Parvez, a resident of the Dharchula area.
Uttarakhand has seen a 1300% rise in incidents of landslides as well as other natural disasters like avalanches and floods between 2015 and 2020, according to data from Uttarakhand Disaster Management Authority.
A total of 200 disasters were recorded in 2015. In 2020, a total of 2,659 disasters were recorded, shows the government data.