Jharkhand government #39;s Labour Department has opened a control room to help the people of the state trapped in the natural disaster in Uttarakhand.
Tag: Uttarakhand Glacier Burst
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Uttarakhand glacier burst: Survivors recount how a phone call saved their lives
By PTI
JOSHIMATH: They had lost hope of survival when one of them found his mobile phone network working, helping them contact the authorities who rescued them from an underground tunnel at Tapovan in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli where flash floods wreaked havoc following a glacier burst.“We heard people screaming at us to come out of the tunnel but before we could react, a sudden gush of water and heavy silt swamped upon us,” rescued Tapovan power project worker Lal Bahadur said.
He, along with 11 of his other colleagues, was rescued by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) from an underground tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Monday evening.
Uttarkhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat being briefed by MS Rawat, ADG Western Command #ITBP on the rescue operations being carried out at Tapovan tunnel. #UttarakhandDisaster @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard pic.twitter.com/zwFgt4oKtO
— Sana Shakil (@sanashakil_TNIE) February 8, 2021According to officials, they remained stuck there for about seven hours, from around 10 am to 5 pm, till the last man was evacuated by rescuers.
ALSO READ | Uttarakhand glacier burst: 19 bodies recovered; rescue ops may continue for 48 hours, says DG NDRF
The ITBP provided their recorded video accounts to the media.
They are now being treated at an ITBP hospital in Joshimath, about 25 km from the incident spot.
This is also the base of the ITBP’s Battalion No. 1, tasked with guarding the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China that runs along the state.
“We were 300 metres deep in the tunnel when the water gushed in. We got trapped. The ITBP rescued us,” Nepal resident Basant said.
Another unidentified worker who hails from Dhak village in Chamoli and worked at the Tapovan project said as the water gushed in, the only thing they could do was to lunge onto the crown of the tunnel.
“We lost hope. But then we saw some light and felt some air to breathe. Suddenly one of us found he had network on his mobile and then he called up our general manager informing him about our situation,” the man said from the hospital bed.
Officials said the project GM subsequently informed the local authorities who requisitioned ITBP rescuers to save them.
The ITBP teams, armed with ropes, pulleys and carabiners, rappelled down a steep slope and brought out these men from the narrow snout of the tunnel on Sunday evening.
Vinod Singh Pawar, a resident of Joshimath, said they climbed up half-way inside the tunnel through the rods but got stuck as a gush of water came in.
“We are thankful to the ITBP rescuers for saving us,” he said in the video.
The border force began air-dropping food packets on Monday in at least nine villages that have been cut off due to the floods.
“Beyond the Raini bridge (which was swept away by the floods), there are nine villages and choppers are dropping food packets after picking them up from our base in Joshimath,” ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said in Delhi.
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Mindless rampage on Himalayas in name of development must stop: Chipko movement leader
By PTI
GOPESHWAR: The glacial burst near Chamoli district’s Raini village, the cradle of the Chipko movement, should serve as a wake-up call to stop the rampage on the Himalayan ecological system in the name of development, said Magsaysay awardee Chandi Prasad Bhatt on Monday.According to the 87-year-old environmentalist, who was a Chipko movement leader, projects like the Rishi Ganga hydel project, which bore the brunt of Sunday’s calamity, should not have been given environmental clearance.
Bhatt said that in 2010 he had written to the then environment minister warning against the adverse effects of the project.
“Had my advice been heeded, the loss of lives and largescale damage to property at the project site could have been prevented.
The mindless rampaging on the Himalayas in the name of development must stop,” he told PTI.
A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday, triggering an avalanche and a deluge in the Alaknanda river system that washed away hydroelectric stations, leaving at least 19 people dead and over 200 missing, who are feared dead.
The sudden flood in the middle of the day in the Dhauli Ganga, Rishi Ganga and Alaknanda rivers — all intricately linked tributaries of the Ganga — triggered widespread panic and large-scale devastation in the high mountain areas.
ALSO READ | Uttarakhand glacier burst: Survivors recount how a phone call saved their lives
Two power projects — NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and the Rishi Ganga Hydel Project — were extensively damaged with scores of labourers trapped in tunnels as the waters came rushing in.
Pointing out that the Himalayas are too delicate to bear too much human intervention, Bhatt, who has also been honoured with the International Gandhi Peace Prize, said, “Sunday’s avalanche was a wake-up call and so was the 2013 Kedarnath deluge in which thousands perished but authorities refuse to learn from natural calamities.”
A devastating natural disaster in the form of torrential rains of unseen magnitude had struck Kedarnath on 16-17 June in 2013.
The banks of the Chorabari lake in Kedarnath collapsed due to a cloudburst that had resulted in a major flash flood causing widespread destruction in Uttarakhand and led to heavy losses to infrastructure, agriculture lands, human and animal lives.
“The Chipko movement had begun from Raini village after largescale devastation in the Rishi Ganga and Alakananda Valleys caused by a devastating flood in 1970.
The flood awakened the locals to the need of saving the forests of Raini,” said Bhatt, who lives in Gopeshwar.
The movement had resulted in a ban on cutting of trees in the catchment area of the Alaknanda river, he said.
Women from Raini village of Uttarakhand had started the movement in the 1970s by clinging onto trees to prevent them from being cut.
Though the movement was started to prevent the felling of trees, it went on to become an inspiration for environment conservation.
Bhatt said environmental clearance to a 13 MW hydel project in a river close to its point of origin in a Himalayan glacier amounts to inviting calamities like this.
Environmental clearance to projects like that on the Rishi Ganga without proper consideration could be highly detrimental to the delicate Himalayan ecological system.
It also results in inordinate delay in clearance to infrastructural projects of public use, he said.
Bhatt also underscored the need for updating the knowledge of the ecological system connected with places where rivers like the Ganga and its tributaries originate in the Himalayas.
“On the points where the Ganga or its tributaries originate there are not only glaciers but also lakes of varying sizes, big and small, about which our knowledge is negligible. It needs to be augmented,” he said.
“We need to identify such lakes and glaciers, show them on our maps and keep a tab on them.
An effective mechanism of sharing basic information on their vulnerability with the local administration and the local populace should also be developed,” Bhatt stressed.
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Uttarakhand glacier burst: Families of the missing lose hope, share grief
Express News Service
DEHRADUN: Bansilal’s eyes swelled with apprehension while talking about his son Mahendra who is trapped with 36 others in the tunnel rescue team is trying to clear for more than 24 hours.“Seems like fate has got us. His footwear shop was closed due to lockdown after which he got a job here in November. It has been more than 24 hours now. All I can do is pray,” says Bansilal.
Bansilal was among many others waiting at the rescue site of the Tapovan hydropower project, 15 km from Joshimath in Chamoli district.
The flash flood swept away two hydropower projects in its way — 13.2 Megawatt project on Rishiganga river followed by 520 Megawatt Tapovan project on Dhauliganga river after which 202 people went missing while many others got trapped.
A total of 20 bodies have been recovered so far from various locations where the flood wreaked havoc.
Madan Singh (60) from Kimana village of Chamoli district is waiting for three of his family members to be rescued from the tunnel. Arvind Singh, Kishan Singh, and Rohit Singh — all his nephews in their 20s are trapped in the tunnel.
“My family is totally devastated. We don’t know whether we should hope for the better or be prepared for the worst. We are hanging by the thin thread of hope,” says Singh.
A farmer by profession, Singh recalls how Arvind used to love to watch football. “He is a big fan of the football games and would tune in to the channel showing football matches by irritating everyone else. I want him to fight this tragedy and survive to irritate us again all our lives,” Singh said before he lost control and burst into tears.
ALSO READ | Uttarakhand glacier burst: Survivors recount how a phone call saved their lives
Meanwhile, in Raini village, which is known for the legendary ‘Chipko Movement’ of the 70s, many are already mourning the loss of dear ones.
Prem Singh, a resident of the village whose 82-year-old mother went missing said, “Amaa went out for her usual fodder gathering. In our worst nightmares, we never thought of any such thing happening.”
The residents of the village, around 70 of them spent the first night after the flash floods in an area adjacent to a forest infested with wild animals.
Balavant Singh (75), who saved his life from the floods by running away said, “It was like we were choosing to risk our lives both ways. We are still in fear of floods. It remains part of our lives. We took shelter in a dilapidated building and made a fire to keep us warm.”
Residents of the village, who are still in shock and terrified, said that they are lucky to have survived but mourning the loss of their family members.
Radha Devi (65), who went out to collect firewood recalls, “Boulders came flying and the bridge was swept away in a second. The waves roared like thunder and made me deaf. I shouted my heart out but my beloved sister-in-law Amrita was washed away. I saved myself by moving to a higher place. I will never be able to forget that sight and sound.”
Specially abled Chet Singh, who lost his wife Madhuri Devi, said he has lost his will to live. “My wife Madhuri has done no wrong to anyone in her life and now where do I look for her. She will never come back. These blasts and projects are to blame. Our lives do not matter in comparison to these projects,” wailed Singh.
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Uttarakhand glacier burst: Three from Assam, including two brothers, among those missing
By Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Three youth from Assam are among those missing in the Uttarakhand tragedy.Among the three are two brothers, Amarjyoti Das and Kamal Das. They hail from Kampur in Nagaon district. The third, Sosan Dalu, is from Hojai, a neighbouring district.
The three are employees of a private firm in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and stayed together.
Their families have urged the Assam government to take necessary measures so that the trio can be traced and rescued. The families have not received any updates since being informed of the tragedy.
“We tried but failed to establish any contact with the two brothers,” a relative told journalists.
It was learnt that Amarjyoti has been working at the Uttarakhand firm for a long time. He had visited his home ahead of the pandemic-induced nationwide lockdown. When normalcy restored, he returned to the Himalayan state, taking his brother along.
A man, who works as a supervisor at the firm, had called up their mother, Dipali Das, on Sunday and informed her that the two brothers were missing.
Many others from the state were stated to be stranded in Uttarakhand after the incident.
ALSO READ | Uttarakhand flash floods: 2019 study had warned of Himalayan glaciers melting
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ISRO, DRDO helping to ascertain exact cause of Uttarakhand floods; relief work immediate priority: CM
Rawat said the incident appeared to have happened due to the breaking of the glacier and the Chief Secretary has been instructed to find out the real reasons.
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Uttarakhand glacier burst: 19 bodies recovered; rescue ops may continue for 48 hours, says DG NDRF
By Online Desk
CHAMOLI: At least 19 bodies have been recovered from multiple locations near the site of a glacier burst in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district that rendered over 200 people missing.The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Monday informed that rescue operations following the flash flood may continue for 48 hours.
“There is accessibility issue because it is a tough terrain. By road, only two teams could manage to reach Joshimath, the remaining teams were airlifted. It is difficult to predict how long, but rescue operation can possibly take 24-48 hours,” SN Pradhan, Director General of NDRF, told ANI.
Uttarakhand Disaster: 19 bodies recovered, over 200 missing. Rescue operations on! @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard pic.twitter.com/81J8d3B8px
— Vineet Upadhyay (@VineetTNIE) February 8, 2021District Magistrate Swati Bhadoria said that the rescue operations are in progress in collaboration with NDRF teams.
“Rescue operations are in progress with the NDRF teams who have brought various equipment so that we could reach the people who are stuck in the tunnel,” she told ANI.
The rescue teams will also reach the villages that are affected due to the breakdown of a bridge.
“We have started rescue operations for 13 villages who are affected due to breakdown of the bridge and will provide them with food and medical assistance,” Bhadoria said.
ALSO READ | Explained: How glaciers can burst and send floods downstream
Meanwhile, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said Union Home Minister Amit Shah is reviewing the situation frequently.
“We are constantly receiving directions from the Centre with Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeping track. Home Minister Amit Shah is also reviewing the situation in every half an hour,” Pokhriyal said.
“It is a very difficult situation, but ITBP successfully rescued people from the first tunnel and now they are working on the second tunnel which is approximately three kilometers long. NDRF and the military are also on it. By afternoon we can expect some positive results,” he added.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) started the rescue operation on Monday morning and since then transportation of the required load from Dehradun to Joshimath, including 122 personnel, around 5T of load, and 6 rescue canines, has been completed.
“Starting from 6:45 am today, 6 Mi 17 sorties, 1 ALH sortie and 1 Chinook sortie have been carried out. Transportation of required load from Dehradun to Joshimath, including 122 personnel, around 5T of load and 6 rescue canines, has been completed,” said teh IAF.
Also, an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) was tasked with the reconnaissance of the affected area by six scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with their specialised equipment.
“Many Indian Air Force movements took place including 2 Hercules, 2 An-32 and 4 helicopters since yesterday. The movement of NDRF teams and their equipment also took place. Since morning, 3 Mi-17, 1 Chinook and 1 ALH moved. 9 outgoing and 6 incoming movements till now,” said Dehradun Airport Director DK Gautam.
Meanwhile, Manoj Singh Rawat, Additional Director General (ADG) Western Command, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) took stock of the rescue operations at the Tapovan tunnel and deployed sniffer dogs for rescue operations.
Tapovan Hydro-Electric Power Dam, also known as Rishi Ganga Project was completely washed off following a glacier burst in the Chamoli district, stated the IAF’s initial report as Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) deployed at Joshimath has undertaken recce of affected areas.
(With inputs from ENS and ANI)
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Explained: How glaciers can burst and send floods downstream
By Associated Press
The floods that slammed into two hydroelectric plants and damaged villages in Uttarakhand were set off by a break on a Himalayan glacier upstream. Here’s a look at how glaciers and glacial lakes form and why they may sometimes break:HOW GLACIERS AND GLACIAL LAKES FORM
Glaciers are found on every continent except Australia and some are hundreds of thousands of years old. A large cluster of glaciers are in the Himalayas, which are part of India’s long northern border. Sunday’s disaster occurred in the western part of the Himalayas.
Glaciers are made of layers of compressed snow that move or “flow” due to gravity and the softness of ice relative to rock. A glacier’s “tongue” can extend hundreds of kilometers (miles) from its high-altitude origins, and the end, or “snout,” can advance or retreat based on snow accumulating or melting.
“Ice may flow down mountain valleys, fan out across plains, or in some locations, spread out onto the sea,” according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
READ| Uttarakhand glacier burst: Scientists leave for Joshimath for surveillance, reconnaissance
Proglacial lakes, formed after glaciers retreat, are often bound by sediment and boulder formations. Additional water or pressure, or structural weakness, can cause both natural and manmade dams to burst, sending a mass of floodwater surging down the rivers and streams fed by the glacier.
WHY DID THIS GLACIER BURST?
It’s not yet known what caused part of the Nanda Devi glacier to snap off Sunday morning, sending floodwater surging downstream toward power plants and villages in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand.
Seismic activity and a buildup of water pressure can cause glaciers to burst, but one particular concern is climate change. High temperatures coupled with less snowfall can accelerate melting, which causes water to rise to potentially dangerous levels.
“Most mountain glaciers around the world were much larger in the past and have been melting and shrinking dramatically due to climate change and global warming,” said Sarah Das, an associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
CAN SUCH DISASTERS BE PREDICTED?
Past deadly or highly destructive glacial floods have occurred in Peru and Nepal.
But the remote locations of glaciers and a lack of monitoring mean we don’t have a clear understanding of how often they occur and if they are increasing, Das said.
“Given the overall pattern of warming, glacier retreat, and increase in infrastructure projects, though, it seems natural to hypothesize that these events will occur more frequently and will become overall more destructive if measures are not taken to mitigate these risks,” said Das.
A number of imminent potentially deadly glacier burst and flood situations have been identified worldwide, including in the Himalayas and South American Andes.
But while monitoring is possible, the remoteness of most glaciers presents challenges.
“There are many glaciers and glacial dammed lakes across the Himalayas, but most are unmonitored,” Das said. “Many of these lakes are upstream of steep river valleys and have the potential to cause extreme flooding when they break. Where these floods reach inhabited regions and sensitive infrastructure, things will be catastrophic.”
A 2010 information page published by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development called for more glacier monitoring in the Hindu Kush Himalayas to better understand “the real degree of glacial lake instability.”
The region where the glacial burst occurred is prone to landslide and flash flooding, and environmentalists have cautioned against building in the region.
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Akhara Parishad to refrain from any demands for Kumbh Mela in Haridwar after glacier burst
By PTI
LUCKNOW: The Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP) has decided it will not keep any demands before the Uttarakhand government during the upcoming Kumbh Mela at Haridwar regarding arrangements during the festival after glacier burst in the neighbouring state triggering floods on Sunday.A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday, triggering an avalanche and a deluge in the Alaknanda river system that washed away hydroelectric stations, leaving at least seven people dead and 125 missing who are feared dead.
The ABAP will also hold a puja (worship ritual) so that a disaster of such magnitude does not repeat in Uttarakhand and there is minimum loss of lives in this disaster.
Speaking to PTI, Mahant Narendra Giri who heads the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad said, “The first bathing day in the Haridwar Kumbh is on March 11. At the time of this disaster, we are with the (Uttarakhand) government. We will not keep any demand before the government during the Kumbh at Haridwar, which may pose a problem for them. At this hour of grief and adverse circumstances, we are with the government.” Giri also said, “We will organise a puja so that a disaster of such magnitude does not repeat in Uttarakhand, and there is minimum loss of lives in this disaster.”
Vrindavan-based religious preacher Rasik Bihari Vibhuji Maharaj, who is holding a programme in Lucknow from February 17 to 24, claimed, “This was pre-decided as per the planetary positions. There has been tampering with the environment as well, which led to this.”
Meanwhile, Ashutosh Varshney, a trustee of Ram Sewa Trust told PTI, “A havan programme is being organised, so that lives of people (trapped in the disaster) could be saved, and there could be freedom from all sorts of obstructions. The havan is being held at Sangam area of the city.”
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Uttarakhand glacier burst: Scientists leave for Joshimath for surveillance, reconnaissance
By PTI
NEW DELHI: A team of scientists, flown to Dehradun after the glacier burst in Uttarakhand, left for the Joshimath area on Monday for surveillance and reconnaissance.The scientists, belonging to the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), were flown to the Uttarakhand capital on Sunday night.
“A team of scientists of DRDO-SASE, flown in last night to Dehradun, is leaving for Joshimath area for surveillance and reconnaissance,” a Home Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday, triggering an avalanche and a deluge in the Alaknanda river system that washed away hydroelectric stations, leaving at least 10 people dead and 143 others missing.
The sudden flood in the middle of the day in the Dhauli Ganga, Rishi Ganga and Alaknanda rivers — all intricately linked tributaries of the Ganga — triggered widespread panic and large-scale devastation in the high mountain areas.
Two power projects – NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and the Rishi Ganga Hydel Project – were extensively damaged with scores of labourers trapped in tunnels as the waters came rushing in.
Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said 153 people were missing from the two hydel projects at Raini and Tapovan out of which 10 bodies have been recovered while 143 are still missing.
“The efforts are focussed at the moment on rescuing 30-35 people trapped in a 250-meter-long tunnel at Tapovan,” he said.
Meanwhile, IAF teams left for the avalanche-hit areas early on Monday to ramp up relief efforts, while rescuers pulled out three more bodies of the people missing in the glacier burst.
Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said 143 people are still missing, a day after the glacier burst triggered a massive avalanche and floods in the Alaknanda river system.
The efforts are focused at the moment on rescuing 30-35 people trapped in a 250-meter long tunnel at Tapovan, he said.
A total of “153 people were missing from the two hydel projects at Raini and Tapovan out of which 10 bodies have been recovered while 143 are still missing,” Kumar said.
The two hydel projects bore the brunt of the “one time ” mishap in which the Rishi Ganga hydel project at Raini was totally destroyed and the one at Tapovan suffered partial damage, he said.
Though all arrangements are in place there is no need for any heli rescue in the affected areas.
Only two villages including Raini are cut off where essentials are being supplied, the DGP said.
The sudden flood in the Dhauli Ganga, Rishi Ganga and Alaknanda rivers — all intricately linked tributaries of the Ganga — triggered widespread panic and large-scale devastation in the high mountain areas.
Homes along the way were also swept away as the waters rushed down the mountain sides in a raging torrent.
There were fears of damage in human settlements downstream, including in heavily populated areas.
Many villages were evacuated and people have taken to safer areas.