The natural disaster in Uttarakhand "Disaster" had been merely a word for me in the pages of dictionary. On 15th June 2013, I was stunned and horrified with the news of the natural calamity that struck the ill fated state of Uttarakhand in North India. The recent natural calamity has shown us what actually a "Disaster" is. On that day there were cloud bursts in various areas of Uttarakhand. The torrential downpour in various parts of the hilly region washed down soil along with silt, sand, stone and boulders. The cloud burst caused enormous quantity of water to flow down the hilly slope and hilly springs joining the main river of the area, the Alakananda. As it is, even during normal time, hilly rivers flow at a high speed. Due to cloud bursts there are flash floods when enormous quantity of water tries to flow out in a short span of time. The speed of water flow increases to much more than the normal. The water level in the river gorge rises, carrying away silt, sa...
