News Analysis India

Tag: Uttarakhand flash flood

  • Uttarakhand residents complain of laxity in relief operations; death toll reaches 77

    Express News Service

    DEHRADUN:  Even as search for the missing trekkers continues in rain-battered Uttarakhand, complaints of mismanagement, lack of coordination and irregularities in relief work have started emerging from disaster stricken areas while people are still struggling to pick up pieces of life. 

    Rekha Negi, gram pradhan of Umagarh village in Ramgarh area of Nainital district, said, “There has been no help from the administration yet. No one from the government has contacted us. The village mostly has elderly who are facing multiple health related issues which makes it even more difficult for us.”

    Nainital district with 25 deaths remains the worst affected.  Visuals of elderly being carried on palkis have emerged from the hilly areas of Ramgarh. Many alleged that the district administration failed to arrange food for the teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force. It’s the local residents who are taking care of the relief teams’ food. 

    “We have been arranging food for the members of NDRF and SDRF since October 20 when they were air-dropped here for rescue and search operations. More is needed to be done,” Krishna Nand Shastri from Sukna village of Nainital said.

    Officials from the district administration said the residents were requested to provide good for the rescue teams and they would be paid for it. On Sunday, director general of police Ashok Kumar visited Nainital and took a review meeting with district police officers and the inspector general of police of Kumaon division. He praised the “outstanding” performance of police and SDRF teams. 

    “Around 48,000 people were evacuated to safe  places and 9,900 were rescued across the state. Those who have performed well will be awarded medals on upcoming January 26,” he said.

    The cumulative death toll in rain-related incidents in Uttarakhand rose to 77.

    However, search is still on for another trekker in the area, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) sources here said.

    Meanwhile, 19 people stranded in Kafni glacier were brought to their village Chuni and 33 stuck in Pindari glacier were evacuated to safety, they said.

    Two trekkers missing on way to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district are yet to be found, they said.

    Bodies of seven trekkers — part of the 11-member team — were recovered on Sunday while two other members of the group rescued alive have been under treatment for a couple of days.

    Bodies of trekkers from West Bengal were sent home after a postmortem examination while the last rites of a woman trekker from Delhi was performed by her family members in Uttarkashi, district disaster management officer Devendra Patwal said.

    Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday visited the damaged Gaula bridge in Haldwani and said work on war footing will be done to restore traffic movement.

    Accompanied by Cabinet ministers Yatishwaranand and Dhan Singh Rawat, Dhami said the state government stood with the affected people who will be given all help.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Expert panels leave for Uttarakhand’s Raini to examine causes of glacial disaster

    By PTI
    DEHRADUN: Two expert teams set out for Raini village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Thursday to examine the causes and assess the effects of the February 7 flash floods that claimed scores of lives and caused large-scale damage to two hydropower projects.

    The panels formed by the National Disaster Management Authority will stay at Raini village for a week and study different aspects of the disaster.

    One panel will examine the possible causes of the flash floods upstream of the Rishiganga and the Dhauliganga rivers, and the other will assess the impact downstream, official sources here said.

    Minister of state for Disaster Management Dhan Singh Rawat held a meeting with the expert panels on Wednesday.

    They will submit their reports to the Centre and the state government, recommending a strategy to prevent a reoccurrence of such disasters.

    Seventy-seven bodies and 35 human body parts have been recovered so far from different places hit by the disaster which demolished the Rishiganga hydel project, besides causing heavy damage to the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project.

    The body of a woman was recovered on Wednesday, more than a month after the tragedy.

  • Hanging glacier broke off to trigger Uttarakhand flood, say scientists

    By ANI
    DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand flash flood incident took place after a Himalayan glacier from a remote peak fell into water and triggered the huge flood in the state, claimed scientists who have investigated and studied the incident.

    The devastating flash floods in Uttarakhand killed many people and trapped workers in underground tunnels. It also sparked speculation on what caused the deluge.

    Five scientists flew over the glacier in a helicopter, took pictures, looked at satellite photographs and collected data from the devastated area.

    The origin of the incident, they say, was a glacier on a remote and inaccessible 5,600 metres (18,372ft) peak called Raunthi.

    ALSO READ: Dhauli Ganga water surge hampers rescue work at Tapovan tunnel

    The scientists believe that a part of this glacier was wrapped around and hanging on a slope, held up by a mass of rock. This part weakened over a period of time due to freezing and melting.

    This chunk of ice and rock broke off on Sunday, and hurtled down a steep mountain slope, they say.

    When it reached the floor of a valley they believe its rocks, snow and sediment fell into a relatively narrow mountain stream at a height of 3,600 metres, blocking it.

    As the water level increased in the stream, it burst. A surge of water and rubble then rushed further down breaching the dam and causing massive floods downstream. Water, gravity and geology conspired to create havoc, leading to numerous deaths and leaving hundreds in danger.

    “What we have found is actually not very common. The weakening of the ‘hanging’ glacier must have happened over a long period of time as the ice froze and thawed,” Dr Kalachand Sain, director of the Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, which sent the team of the scientists, told ANI.

    Climate change, he said, is the “main factor” for rapid temperature changes leading to freezing and thawing of ice, and glacial fractures over time.

    “Glaciers collect snow in the winter and lose snow in summer. But when temperatures rise, they lose ice faster than they can collect it. Ice melts can lead to the retreat of glaciers,” he said.

    The death toll in the incident has mounted to 34. As many as 204 persons are still missing, informed the State Secretariat on Thursday.

    Out of the 34 recovered dead bodies, 10 have been identified while 24 of them are yet to be identified.