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Floods have caused geographical changes
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Absence of roads hampers relief supplies
The man who saw the tragedy unfolding
CII gears up to help with relief work
1,227 kids went missing in disaster
Uttarakhand ill-equipped to tackle disasters
Residents complain to Mayor about faulty embankment patches
Villagers face power shoratge
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Floods have caused geographical changes
In its scientific report on the devastation caused by the torrential rainfall on June 16 and 17 in Kedarnath Dham and Rudraprayag district, the Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, Dehradun, has observed that pre- and post-satellite data showed that the heavy rainfall and snow in the area had raised the water level of the seasonal Chaurabari lake situated at the snout of the Chaurabari glacier above Kedarnath, which triggered streams and lakes to overflow by saturating the moraines. Moraines are walls of debris and slush left behind by retreating glaciers and are weak. Satellite data analysis, the report states, shows that there was no signature of glacial changes in Chaurabari and Companion. These glaciers are still intact and only one middle moraine was washed out by a single stream by heavy rain. The report also states that the Vasuki Tal, a huge lake situated at 14,200 feet near Kedarnath had no role to play in the floods. Above Kedarnath, the water that flowed down was in a single stream, but after the devastation, the channel of water had become broader than earlier. Some signatures of mobilisation of moraines have been found in the catchment of Companon Glacier that took debris that struck towns downstream. Further, a new stream has been formed in the region, the report states. The pre-event satellite image shows that water moved along in narrow channels, but post-event images show that many streams carried debris over the area from all directions in the catchment area and all channels now have fresh sediment in their beds. According to the report, the cross-section of the area shows very high gradient at the top of the glacier snout, steep-to-moderate slope in the moraine deposit areas and moderate-to-gentle slope around Kedarnath and, thereafter, the gradient increased from very steep to steep up to Gaurikund. Therefore, the velocity of debris flow was very high due to the high gradient from Kedarnath to Rambara and Gaurikund, leading to colossal damage downstream. The region is seismically and ecologically very sensitive and fragile and even small disturbances trigger changes that rapidly assume disastrous dimensions. The upper reaches of the Mandakini valley are glaciated and are occupied by two glaciers, Chaurabari and Companion. The valley shows evidences of glaciations up to Rambara. The region has a history of natural devastations like landslides and flashfloods. A huge landslide in August 1998 around Madhyamaheshwar and the Kaliganga sub-watersheds in Okhimath tehsil of Riudraprayag district had surpassed all past records of calamity in the region. Other major landslides, like the Phata landslide of 2-1, Lwara landslide in Basukedararea in 1992, Temriya and Chandrapuri are examples in the Mandakini valley that have caused large-scale human tragedies, resource damage and associated environmental and social hazards. In 2012, Okhimath also witnessed unprecedented damage to life and property, infrastructure and environment due to torrential rainfall and cloudburst. A separate report by the National Remote Sensing Centre states that in the preliminary assessment, a total of 745 landslides have been identified along the river valleys of Mandakini, Mandani, Kali and Madhyamaheshwar. The major towns included in this area are Kedarnath, Sonprayag, Gaurikund, Okhimath, Guptkashi, Mansuna and Phata.
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Absence of roads hampers relief supplies Dehradun, July 3 Contrary to government claims of hundreds of metric tonnes of essentials airdropped in rain hit areas, relief material is yet to reach villages cut off from the roads with major highways still badly damaged in the worst hit Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts. In Kheeron village near Joshimath on Badrinath highway in Chamoli district people have taken refuge in the caves to escape the fury of the swirling waters of Alaknanda. The situation in over 40 villages of Uttarkashi is no different. Padamsingh Chauhan, a resident of the Kheeron, says over two weeks after the tragedy when the choppers began doing sorties in the area their hopes were kindled. The only relief in this state of deprivation is some of the fields where the crop of potatoes still stands. Meanwhile, 226 persons stranded at Badrinath were evacuated from Badrinath and Joshimath today. "A total of 224 local people stranded in Badrinath were evacuated while two persons were evacuated from Govindghat," said Chief Secretary Subash Kumar, adding that "around 300 people are still at Badrinath". Local shopkeepers, priests and sadhus would to continue stay put at Badrinath temple until the temple doors are closed in the winters, he said. "There are a total number of 152 villages where food and essential items are to be dropped. So far, 72 villages have been covered," said Subash Kumar. As many as 52 sorties were carried out in five disricts and 132 quintals of food material was dropped. sad affair
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CM orders extensive survey of damage in Haridwar district
Haridwar, July 3 Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna was here today to assess the damage done by the floods in Lakshar belt. He also informed about the sanctioning of Rs 60 crore for repairing and maintenance of the embankments in the Lakshar-Khanpur belt, which got damaged in the recent floods. Referring to the damage done on river sides, the CM said that this was a vital problem in Uttarakhand for which a specific policy was being chalked out. Assuring the flood-affected people, CM Bahuguna said that they will be given relief compensation as per new government notification. Calling for an extensive survey of the flood-affected region, Bahuguna said that this needed to be done at the earliest so that government can assess the real damage and affected people can be granted compensation. Accompanied by Cabinet-ranked and Khanpur legislator Kunwar Pranav Singh, the Chief Minister took strong cognisance of paucity of officers in the Irrigation Department, to which he instantly gave orders of deploying additional number of department employees. Later, the Chief Minister also reviewed a meeting of preparations going on for Kanwar fair in the district. As the Kanwar pilgrimage begins later this month, the CM said that patchwork on Kanwar patri ,through which Kanwariyas tread, should be done on time. Basic facilities like water, power supply, health camps should also be in place prior to the commencement of the pilgrimage. Informing the Chief Minister about relief aid works, District Magistrate, Haridwar, Nidhi Pandey, said that till date a total of 166 villages have got affected. Pandey said that compensation to 2271 affected people have been given amounting to Rs 1,39,07,980. Public Works Department has released Rs 25 lakh
for repairing damaged stretches on the Haridwar-Roorkee stretch. Irrigation Department has been allocated Rs 25 lakh to carry out post-flood works, with an assessment of government departmental properties getting damaged in floods being pegged at
Rs 4383 lakh.
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The man who saw the tragedy unfolding
Dehradun, July 3 Singh said he had not been able to recover mentally and was burdened with the images of disaster all the time. He returned to his home in Doiwala on June 21 when his entire family and relatives were mourning his supposed death. His arrival was a pleasant surprise for all of them. While recollecting the flash floods, he said the trailer of the main disaster came on June 16 at 8 at night when it rained so heavily with thunder that his rest house got half filled with slush. He rushed to take shelter in the Kedarnath temple, 230 metres ahead. Since the entire temple was thronged by pilgrims for shelter, he stood in between doors all the night. In the night itself, Shankaracharya Bhavan in the vicinity was half buried in the slush. He feared that those standing there might have died. In the morning, when the rain relented, he rushed to Hotel Rambhavan. Then the entire building shook and the sound was like that of an explosion. Thereafter, someone on the roof called him and informed that a massive wave of Mandakini river was rushing towards
the temple. He gathered his employees and tourists of his rest house and hid behind huge boulders near the building. While reminiscing about the incident, he said: '' The thunderous wave swept buildings, people, animals, whatever came it's way, in that interval of just three minutes. When it halted, I saw people buried till neck in sand, some dead in a crouching position. We pulled out a few out of sand and saved them. Then I rushed for my life.''He crossed over into the jungle, and managed to reach a helicopter. He got down when he saw an injured official standing in the queue. He reached Garur Chatti but seeing no evacuation taking place there, he walked through slush-filled path for 6 km and stayed at a stable for two nights along with group of pilgrims. He said they would sit in a queue shivering in the cold from 12 at night to be rescued. He was finally rescued and brought at Jolly Grant Airport on June 21. He said he would go Kedarnath time and again to thank Lord Shiva for saving his life.
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CII gears up to help with relief work
Dehradun, July 3 After communicating with various government agencies, the Army, NGOs and Disaster Management Cell, Uttarakhand, an interim assessment of the situation has been done and relief and rehabilitation operations in the affected areas have been planned by the CII. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII, said, “The industry is committed to providing the maximum support to the victims and the administration in providing relief and rehabilitation measures. The damage caused to the hill state by the cloudbursts, floods and landslides will take a long time to rebuild Uttarakhand. The CII would lend its full support for
it.” “The CII has been constantly coordinating with the state government and district administration of the impacted areas to channelise the efforts of the CII Foundation towards providing immediate relief and rehabilitation support,” added Banerjee. A CII team is camping in Rudraprayag district, which is the most affected area. It has identified three clusters for relief and rehabilitation purposes: the Augustamuni-Tilawara cluster (Rudraprayag), Guptkashi cluster (Rudraprayag) and Pindar Valley (Chamoli). It would start its work in the Augustamuni-Tilawara cluster (Rudraprayag) which includes eight villages having over 500 houses / families. The CII would set up camps next week to provide temporary shelters, water purifiers, solar lanterns, blankets, torches and warm clothing here. “To channelize the relief work in proper direction, the operation will be carried out in two phases,” said Jayant Davar, Chairman, CII Northern Region and Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Sandhar Technologies Ltd. “In the first phase, relief camps would be set up to distribute necessary items like disaster kits, water purifiers, solar lanterns, medicines, blankets, shoes, chlorine tablets and toiletries etc. Health camps would also be organised in association with Fortis”, he highlighted. “The second phase would comprise rehabilitation work. Under this, focus will be on building low cost housing for those whose houses have been washed away. As per the district administration, there is a requirement of hundreds of houses in Rudraprayag district alone. The CII is also exploring interventions based on the ground assessment towards clean drinking water facility, building schools and community centres and exploring livelihood opportunities for locals. The CII plan would be aligned with the state government rehabilitation plan and is likely to include interventions in the areas of low cost housing, water solutions and livelihoods,” Davar added. “The CII has been coordinating with the state government/ local administration/ NGOs working with local communities while working out the possibilities. It would focus on the local impacted people,” said Zubin Irani, Deputy Chairman, CII Northern Region and Senior Managing Director. Commercial Companies, United Technologies India Private Limited.
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1,227 kids went missing in disaster
Dehradun, July 3 ''We are still tabulating the numbers and based on the ICDS helpline and information received at the missing persons' registration centre, the total number of children who went missing during the floods are 1227,'' said Radha Raturi, Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development. The Principal Secretary said the Police Department had also been alerted on the issue of child trafficking. However, the department did not have any figures on the number of children who have been orphaned and who are undergoing treatment at various hospitals. ''Other than a small girl who was admitted to Doon Hospital, we have no information about the number of children being orphaned,'' said Radha Raturi. She said that the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) part of WCD is also focusing on providing counselling to traumatised children through the anganwari workers.
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Uttarakhand ill-equipped to tackle disasters
Dehradun, July 3 In a state that has been most vulnerable to natural disasters, the State Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre is being run by minimum of staff and without some key experts. Against the sanctioned posts of nine officers, the DMMC headquarters in Dehradun has just three officers. There is no expert on GIS, natural resources management and social science in the centre. Even a finance manager, who plays a crucial role in relief distribution, is missing. Even in districts, the DMMC has a lone official -- District Disaster Officer -- and that, too, is a contractual employee. To make matters worse, state Disaster Response Force that plays a significant role in reducing the response time taken in the aftermath of a disaster is non-existent. Questions being raised over delays in response over the Kedarnath catastrophe could have been avoided had the State Disaster Response Force been in existence. While most of the states like Gujarat, Orissa, Assam and Maharashtra have their disaster response forces, Uttarakhand, a state that is repeatedly struck by disaster is still to have one. Similarly, the state Disaster Management Authority is still to take shape. It is
still in papers with a few politicians at its office-bearers and is totally
non-functional. Those linked to disaster studies assert that is a wake-up time for Uttarakhand. They assert that while the present rain disaster was primarily limited to the three districts of Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi, an earthquake close to magnitude of 7.5 has the potential to wreak havoc in the entire state and spell worse for Uttarakhand. A former State Project Officer, Disaster Risk Management, UNDP, Dr PD Mathur, asserted that the Kedarnath catastrophe should be an eye-opener for Uttarakhand, which lacks even in basic preparedness to meet such challenges. He said it was strange that while people in thousands are trained every year in relief and rescue operations by state disaster management authorities, they are seldom working on ground as is revealed in the present rain disaster. He said the DMMC needs to urgently pull up its socks. The Executive Director of the DMMC, Piyoosh Rautela, admits that the centre was working with staff constraints. He said the DMMC was working on a war footing to provide relief to the affected people.
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If left untreated, landslide area could endanger Company Garden
Mussoorie, July 3 The recent natural disaster in the Kedar valley and Uttarkashi has also instilled fear among the around 200 residents of the area who say that the untreated sliding zone could cave in at any time, resulting in loss to life and
property. Surendar Rana, president of the Garden Welfare Residents Association, said the landslides had been occurring for the past several years and despite repeatedly reminders to the authorities concerned in this regard, no action had been taken to check it on a permanent basis. Any further damage to the road in the coming days could endanger the whole Company Garden area, added
Rana. He also informed the media that the main drinking water pipeline passing through the area was hit a few years back and restored after immense difficulty. If the slide occurred again, the result could be devastating for the town which would be left without drinking
water. Rana said several political dignitaries had visited the area in the last two years and assured them of initiating action, but nothing had been done so far. Mussoorie Municipal Council president Manmohan Singh Mall said he had already submitted the report along with pictures to the government for treatment of the area and its response was still awaited. The neglect by the government over the issue could lead to large-scale destruction of property and loss of life if the area continued to have rains. The SDM
Mussoorie, NS Dangi, responding to the complaint filed by the residents' welfare association yesterday, inspected the area along with municipal officials and took stock of the damage to the mountain area.Speaking to the media, he said he would forward the detailed report to the DM of Dehradun for action in the matter.He also visited the area near Company Garden where a deodar tree was on the verge of collapsing on some houses there. He directed the Forest Department officials to look into the matter urgently. He also directed Municipal Council officials to warn all residents living in temporary sheds on cliffs around Mussoorie to look for safer options in the wake of the heavy rains predicted by the Met
department. Police officials were also seen advising the residents in the town to opt for safer places in case of heavy rains in the town in next 24 hours. With this exercise by administration, panic has set in the town and the tourists staying in the hotels have begun leaving the town in haste, fearing a
naturacalamity.
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Residents complain to Mayor about faulty embankment patches
Dehradun, July 3
This led to water rushing into houses through the escape route given in between the embankments.
They also reasoned that a small piece of embankment could not handle the weight of the gushing water and fell down under the pressure, which also compounded their problems. They demanded one long embankment instead of those patches around the colonies where
slum dwellers had settled down. People from Shanti Vihar came to sort out disputes among them. Some among them had built rooms and toilets on the large drains which diverted the flow of the water towards the other houses. However, on direction of the Mayor, those who had encroached upon land in Shanti Vihar agreed to dismantle the illegal portion. But they also accused others of encroaching upon land on the banks of Rispana river. Vinod Chamoli said the residents must sort out the issue of removing the encroachments among themselves. He warned them that if he sent his anti-encroachment team, then it would dismantle all the illegal encroachment there. On the issue of Bhagat Singh Colony, he criticised Irrigation Department, saying that the department was wasting public money on building embankments in a random manner around the river area.
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Villagers face power shoratge
Mussoorie, July 3 Pratap Singh Raunchela, a resident of Tuneta
village, said their children were forced to study in candlelight. However, Junior Engineer of the electricity department Vinit Kumar said due to power theft by certain villagers, the transformer installed in the area often gets damaged. He said they were conducting surprise checks to identify the people involved in the power theft.
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Dehradun, July 3