Category Archives: Uttarakhand Flood

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VIII

In the penultimate part of the Uttarkhand Floods series, Chandan Das wonders about why India can’t foresee a terror strike or a natural disaster! Why do Indians act only after lives are lost, and even after that, simply engage in blame-games instead of learning lessons?

How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold – William Wordsworth

Wanna hear some numbers?

# Over 50 tourist buses queued up. Suddenly, stones started raining on the buses. Continuously for 12 hours.

# Four-storey, 52-room hotel cave in in front of your eyes.

# Before the disaster, the number of mules in Gaurikund was estimated to be 8,000. Now there is no word on how many animals have perished or the conditions of those that have survived.

# 500 roads have been damaged and 200 bridges washed away makes the problem of rescue even bigger.

Oh no, the Man didn’t dig his own grave, it was just the Nature’s “Fury”!!

When will we learn our lessons?

Last year, we Indians were ruing shortage of rainfall and this year, they have been rattled by a fast advancing monsoon. The way various north Indian states have been crippled by the onslaught of monsoon, especially Uttarakhand, it raises one pertinent question: Is Life in India so cheap ? Why is to so difficult to understand the basics of a security culture. Whether there is a terror strike or a natural disaster, it is only after blood is spilled and lives are lost that we decide to act. Just feeling proud of being a an emerging super-economy and the biggest democracy isn’t enough. We also need to get our basics right. But so ill-prepared are we to cope with the smallest deviation from the normal that lives are lost and property destroyed, year after year, even when the rainfall in this ecologically fragile region does not exceed the norm. But we aren’t helpless: we’ve failed because, though we’ve done our homework on how not to fail, we haven’t actually turned these lessons into practice. But it would leave behind a significant lesson that messing up with Himalaya’s eco-sensitive zone is just filled with dangers !!

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves?

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part V (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VII (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part IV (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part I (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part II (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VI (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part III (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VII

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VI

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Chandan Das delves into the fact that in an agricultural economy where early monsoons should come as a pleasant surprise, catches us unprepared — despite all the warnings!

Ah, what a warning for a thoughtless man, Could field or grove, could any spot of earth, Show to his eye an image of the pangs Which it hath witnessed,-render back an echo Of the sad steps by which it hath been trod! – William Wordsworth

Development?? Uttarakhand is a DECADE back now!!

Till early 1980s, there were just a few hutments at the base of Kedarnath. The developments around the Kedarnath shrine may not be considered ‘urban’, but they have typically urban characteristics: density, haphazard construction with lightweight materials and large paved areas. In its Guidelines for Management of Urban Flooding, 2010, the NDMA observes that “urbanisation leads to developed catchments, which increases the flood peaks from 1.8 to 8 times and flood volumes by up to 6 times.” While official estimates say forest cover has increased in the Himalayas, a number of credible independent studies have found significant discrepancies in this claim. The fact is that forests have been diverted for a host of land use activities, such as agriculture, human settlements and urbanisation. Indiscriminate development in the hill towns, mushrooming guest houses, hotels and all manners of illegal encroachment taking place along the rivers, it was just a disaster waiting to happen !!

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves ?

The Sleepy “Predictions”

Yeah, it is true that the monsoon rains arrived unexpectedly early, and the precipitation was four times the normal in a space of a very few days. The latter aspect would have made relief and rescue difficult, and there might have been a big toll of life and property in any case. A surprise early monsoon should be welcome news for much of the subcontinent, whose mainly agricultural economy is dependent on the rains, but not if it catches us unprepared — despite all the warnings! The “argument” is that a low pressure system over Chhattisgarh interacted with a western disturbance to bring unprecedented rainfall almost a fortnight to a month early (c’mon guys give me a break!!). The fact remains that each year rains have the same catastrophic effect on many urban centers mainly because our civic infrastructure is incapable of handling the first downpour, let alone what follows . Not that our major metropolises were much better prepared: we could see what flooding did to life in Mumbai or to Delhi airport’s swanky T3 terminal!!

But the point is why the www.imd.gov.in could not see it coming? Why don’t we have credible weather stations? What responsibility and accountability the Central Water Commission, the State Disaster Department & the Ministry of Environment and Forest have? I am not even too sure that the Indian Meteorological Department had given any warning of the impending disaster and, if so, whether the warnings were given in time for the civil administration to alert people and take steps to minimise the damage. Today, the Met office is passing the buck by saying the state government had been warned about torrential rains on Friday night. Even if local administration had understood the implications of meteorological data, it didn’t have much time to put out effective warnings across a state where 65% of the area is under forests. Wanna hear a joke? The met office, with its weather satellites and multiple equipment upgrades, hasn’t been able to demonstrate any measurable improvement in its predictions over the years!!

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves?

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part IV (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part V

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In the fifth part of the series, Chandan Das explores the farce behind the flood control measures, which eventually led to this large scale disaster!

That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind. – William Wordsworth

PLAN YOUR “PLANS”!!

The National Flood Control Programme was launched in 1954. After the 1970s – a decade that saw the worst floods – this spending gradually declined to a low of 5.5 percent in the decade between 2000-2010.The rupees not spent on flood control have meant gigantic national losses!

In 1976, the Government of India set up the National Flood Commission (Rashtriya Barh Ayog) “to evolve a coordinated, integrated and scientific approach to the flood control problems in the country and to draw out a national plan fixing priorities for implementation in the future.” That a large number of agencies in our country are still mentioning the Barh Ayog’s data in their diagnostic statements is an ominous reminder that our level of preparedness is somewhat low!

According to the annual report of Ganga Flood Control Commission (2010-11), Uttarakhand was allocated a budget of Rs 280 crore, but ironically, the flood management plans ignored the issues of deforestation and environmental devastation!

The report of the 12th Five-Year Plan working group on ‘Flood Management and Region Specific Issues’, shows Uttarakhand’s flood vulnerabilities. Until March 2011, it included the coverage of 2000 hectares, compared to 18000 hectares in Himachal Pradesh. The state has created 9 km of embankment, a fraction of the 159.16 km completed in Himachal Pradesh; it has no drainage channels, whereas Himachal has constructed 11 km. While 82 Himachal villages were protected through the raising of the ground level, none of the villages in Uttarakhand received such protection. In fact, the state government needed Rs. 600 crore for relocating all the villagers, but had only Rs. 50 lakh in their kitty. The Central Government doesn’t mind giving 1000 crore today though (you must be kidding me now !!)

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves?

Uttarakhand: Water, Water Everywhere… (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part IV (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)

Ganga…What Happened to You?

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part IV

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Chandan Das wonders about the reason due to which we were not able to take requisite action despite Nature giving us timely warnings, in the fourth part of the Uttarakhand Floods series.

“For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity.” – William Wordsworth

UTTARAKHAND is PRONE to Natural Disasters: So what?

Ok I agree to the fact that the very nature of topographical, geological, geomorphological and seismic situation in Uttarakhand makes it prone to large kinds of disasters. It is part of young Himalayan mountain, prone to landslides, erosion and flash floods. And this is not something new. Similar disasters have been found in other countries like China, Italy & USA and even in UTTARAKHAND, the Asiganga hydropower project had played a key role in the Uttarkashi disaster a couple of years ago. I mean you cannot avert a cloudburst, but you can certainly reduce the damage!

Not that Mother Nature did not give any timely warnings. Through the years, since the 1991 Uttarkashi earthquake that left nearly 2,000 dead and thousands without shelter in the Himalayan state, there have been several warnings, such as abnormal rise in temperature, reoccurring landslides, cloud bursts and flash floods in vast regions of Tehri, Pauri, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Almora. The headlines three years ago were similar: ‘flash floods leave North India in deep trouble’ and ‘flood, rain, wreak havoc in North India’. The monsoon of 2010 brought with it such massive losses of lives, property, crops and infrastructure that the state said its development clock had been set back by a decade!! In August 2012, buildings were washed away by Uttarkashi flash floods. Immediately after that, the Uttarakhand government report actually asked for a legislation and its strict implementation to ensure that no construction, including roads are allowed next to the river. As per official records, 233 villages were marked disaster-prone and could face Uttarkashi-like situation any moment. Sadly, two months later, a cloudburst in Rudraprayag had claimed 69 lives (the very same place where the Disaster started).

It may be some consolation that nature’s fury is not well handled even by some of the most advanced industrial societies, as demonstrated by Hurricane Sandy in New York last year and Katrina earlier. But we should at least try and be prepared by rechecking urban water draining infrastructure lest we suffer due to the monsoon that is in fact our saviour. But nobody, barring a handful of environmentalists, ecologists and local people, paid heed to the warnings. A place that is prone to disasters because of fast-occurring climate change should be guarded with utmost sensitivity towards ecology and environment, but the administration closed its eyes to all illegal constructions!!

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves ?

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part III

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In the third part of the Uttarakhand Flood series, Chandan Das discusses how hydel projects have been undertaken without assessing the environmental impact.

The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours. –William Wordsworth

HYDEL ENERGY PROJECTS: “Energy” Wasted!!

Remember how the Ganga warriors had claimed earlier that the Central government was not serious about keeping its assurance for stopping the work on hydroelectric projects on Alaknanda and Mandakini, the two main tributaries of the Ganga? Around 220 hydroelectric projects on the Mandakini and the Alaknanda have been sanctioned!! 200?? Two 20km tunnels are being built to divert these rivers for hydel projects and constant blasting of the river banks has affected the local ecology. Interestingly, they meet at Rudraprayag, the epicenter of today’s devastation. These projects have been allowed without cumulative environment impact assessment on the region. With these projects come hotels, residential and commercial buildings and roads. This piecemeal approach has just raised the spectre of the gold rush. Scientific studies indicate that at the current rates of deforestation, the total forest cover in the Indian Himalaya will be reduced from 84.9 % (of the value in 1970) in 2000 to no more than 52.8 % in 2100. Dense forest areas, on which many forest taxa critically depend, would decline from 75.4% of the total forest area in 2000 to just 34 % in 2100, which is estimated to result in the extinction of 23.6 % of taxa restricted to the dense Himalayan forests.

I mean it’s like creating a ticking time bomb as the construction involved large-scale deforestation. Today, the green cover on the hills that checks and absorbs the flow of water has been eroded in the name of hydel energy. And all these hydel projects have been undertaken without assessing their impact on environment, hence the huge devastation. Because when you remove trees, blast rocks and exert unscientific anthropogenic pressure, it’s imperative that the nature will play havoc!!

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves?

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part I (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part II (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Flashfloods: Infrastructure CRUMBLES in Uttarakhand (rediff.com)
The untold story from Uttarakhand (thehindu.com)

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part I

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Uttarakhand Floods is probably the most debatable topic currently. Environmentalists believe that this is a man-made disaster. Chandan Das explores the topic in a similar strain. He believes that human beings have dug their own graves by invoking the wrath of Nature!

“And much it grieved my heart to think what man has made of man” – William Wordsworth

Ok I will start with a Fact: The Himalayan region is home to several major Hindu pilgrimage centres – beginning from Rishikesh and Haridwar where the River Ganga first flows out into the plains. Every year thousands go to do the Char Dham Yatra. On 15th June 2013 a calamity “Himalayan tsunami” arrived and a tragedy struck Uttarakhand that was waiting to happen for a long time now. The rivers flowing across the famed pilgrimage sites became so furious that they submerged whole towns, washing away shops, homes, hotels and lodges. Buildings collapsed like pack of cards as swollen rivers pounded down the denuded hills making a poignant view. The lofty green mountains, that would inspire even a deadpan to break into a song earlier, became barren. Today, as I write this , almost 62,000 of pilgrims have been left stranded, 1000 plus lives have been lost (oh yeah, the toll is likely to rise), property worth crores and the world-famous pilgrimage Kedarnath, located at a height of 11,760 feet , has been damaged by the latest fury of the monsoon. But here is my point: The injustice man did to the rivers in the name of development have left the beautiful water bodies seething with anger. It seems like Nature wanted to restore the balance that was disturbed by rivers having to change their course and due to blocking of their natural flow in the name of progress!!

So is it just a Nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves?

The Uncontrolled Traffic: Do We Have the “Capacity”?

The valleys of the Yamuna, the Ganga and the Alaknanda witness heavy traffic of tourists. In any normal day, if you sit at the Prayag bridge for tea and start counting, one will notice 80 buses crossing in about 5 minutes. 80 buses in 5 minutes?? Yeah you heard it right!!

Figure this: In 2005-06, 83,000-odd vehicles were registered in UTTARAKHAND. The figure increased to nearly 180,000 in 2012-13. Out of this, proportion of jeeps, cars and taxis, increased the most. In 2005-06, 4,000 vehicles were registered, which jumped to 40,000 in 2012-13 – a whopping 1000 per cent increase!! The heavy pilgrim population has also resulted in the mushrooming of shanty towns, numerous ramshackle buildings and cheap accommodation along river banks. It’s a known fact that there is a straight co-relation between tourism increase and higher incidence of landslides. Road contractors, who come from outside, do not understand the mountains. Most of the expressways that are being constructed now are tangled in legal cases. After cutting of mountains, landslides continue for up to four years, and contractors go bankrupt clearing the debris. We see more landslides nowadays because of unplanned development in the hills. Most of these places have much more tourist inflow than the area’s carrying capacity. A new (mountain) range like the Himalaya will remain steady if not tampered with much. But the huge expansion of roads and transport is bringing the mountains in Uttarakhand down!!

So was it just a nature’s fury or have we dug our own graves?

Uttarakhand floods: Rudrapur village mourns the loss of 10 priests (ibnlive.in.com)
Uttarakhand: Water, Water Everywhere… (missionsharingknowledge.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand: 5 die during rescue work, CM says Kedarnath worst hit (ibnlive.in.com)
Uttarakhand: Rescue efforts in full swing; toll 58, 72000 stranded (ibnlive.in.com)

Dev Bhoomi Drowning

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Dwaipayan Chakraborty writes about his travel to Uttarkhand a few days ago and ponders over what went wrong!

It was alive a few days ago!

11^th June I returned from Badrinath (Uttarkhand) about a week ago. My journey ranged from Haridwar to Badrinath via Joshimath & all the Prayags. Since childhood I had heard stories of hundreds flocking to these Great Dhams in search of salvation, but this visit was not for any religious motive but just as an enthusiastic adventure ride.

To me Haridwar/ Har ki Pauri was a place where people of various sects/races/class amalgamated to offer their prayers to the Almighty. One must be in the middle of the enormity in order to feel the energy and belief of us humans towards a Supreme Power. After having experienced the famous sandhya-aarti my journey continued towards Badrinath, with a stop at Joshimath/Auli, a bus journey of about 12 hours in moderately maintained Uttarakhand State Transport Buses. During this journey I crossed Hrishikesh, DevPrayag, RudraPrayag, KarnaPrayag, NandaPrayag, Srinagar, Joshimath, Govindghat and many others too. The journey with the mighty mountains on one side and the Ganga on the other in the form of Mandakini, Bhagirathi, Alaknanda was indeed breathtaking. Deep gorges, sharp turns, shaky railings, crowded roads, stops at the dhabas for some quick grab made my travel all the more adventurous. I specifically remember Sikh devotees lined up along the roads with their saffron bands moving gradually towards their Holy place of Hemkund Sahib, people from Andhra arriving for their holy Char Dham Yatra. All a collection of chaos in those hills.

Now sitting at home and watching visuals of many of these places heavily affected by Nature’s fury does give me a chill in the spine. I was there just a week ago. What if I was among the thousands trapped, hundreds injured and many sacrificed? Before I left my father had casually warned me, I checked the weather forecast and showers were not expected before late June or early July. Yet it had arrived now, and in a titanic scale. Har Ki Pauri in huge waves of water. In Devprayag, RudraPrayag all the connecting bridges are now dangerously close to water levels resisting transport to ply. Further up market places of Srinagar are experiencing flood thereby making daily life all the more difficult. Chunks of roads have cracked and opened up. Large Stones loosening from the hill sides and being washed on to the roads. Rescue and private vehicles being gobbled up by the waters just like toys. Large housings near the river falling like delicate boxes. Heavy rain making the roads which already are marginally safe more vulnerable. Pilgrims towards Hemkund Sahib, Badrinath who have to make a certain journey on foot after a point all stuck praying to survive and safely return.

Such a reverse drama all in a week. While I was there the climate had a chill about it, often hot in the mornings but predominately cooler throughout the day. I remember enjoying my bus ride along with many others, often stopping on makeshift Dhabas, enjoying my meal which were insecurely made near the rivers. Houses lined up precariously close all along the river. People had turned their own homes into budget hotels in order to accommodate the large crowds. All the visitors were in a festive mood; everyone had come to unwind themselves, to find peace in the lap of their Gods. And ironically the scenario has drastically altered, now the festive mood has turned into a question of survival.

But the statistical numbers and the images prove yet again that Nature is too powerful to handle when enraged. The reasons, some known, others unknown are matters of research and rectification. National Disaster Management and the State and Central Governance often come into the picture post disaster. Having an aerial view of these places show the havoc created but being in the middle of it is another ball game. Stricter guidelines, implementation, frequent weather updates and proper crowd management along with self-awareness are the primary factors that could safeguard people. Calamities beyond our reach cannot be foretold but the reasons that triggering them can be taken care of.

With each passing minute, the prayers are getting stronger, the hope and faith remaining undeterred.

Char Dham Yatra.. “Welcome to Devbhoomi Uttarakhand”…!!! (sourabhsblog.wordpress.com)
Uttarakhand floods: Harbhajan Singh recounts the horror (ibnlive.in.com)
Uttarakhand: Badrinath the next big challenge for rescue teams (ibnlive.in.com)

Uttarakhand: Water, Water Everywhere…

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Category Archives: Uttarakhand Flood

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VIII

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VII

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part VI

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part V

Ganga…What Happened to You?

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part IV

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part III

Uttarakhand Floods: Nature’s Fury or Have We Dug Our Own Graves? – Part I

Dev Bhoomi Drowning

Uttarakhand: Water, Water Everywhere…

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