 |
| 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, sand, stone and boulders, which collide with the upper part of the gorges and cause landslides.
The most affected area was the Kedarnath Shrine valley and its market area. The area was razed to The ground and got covered with 9 to 10 ft of debris. The big buildings, roads and bridges were washed away.
There are no remains of any habitat or hilly feature. It reminded me of the after efects of Tsunami which wiped off the Indira Gandhi point along with vast areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The only difference between the two is that one occurred on the sea coast while the other in the hills.
Pilgrims and tourists were stranded without any food, water and shelter. Many of them passed nights of horror and agony in incessant rain. The ground floor of the Kedarnath Shrine was completely filled up with debris. Vehicle and cars got carried away by the speeding water and ultimately got stuck in debris. By watching the pictures and videos I could only imagine the plight of the people, caught in the catastrophe with others trying to save their lives. Apart from this, innumerable pilgrims and tourists died. The area has been rendered barren. The market area got completely destroyed. Though Lord Shiva could save his temple and his idol but could not save many of his devotees' lives who took shelter inside the temple. There were around five thousand deaths.
Though the Army and the BSF have conducted rescue missions and evacuated a lot of people by helicopters but due to heavy rain the evacuation got delayed. A lot of relief material has been flown to the distressed people. In this mission, one helicopter crashed, killing many.
Kedarnath Shrine has alway been a great attraction for tourists, pilgrims and adventurous trekkers. The massive destruction is a great set-back to all of them as well as a great financial loss to the state. It will require a lot of money and time to rebuild the same.
The scientists and environment specialists have to find out the cause triggering such a fury of nature.
 |
| The natural disaster in Uttarakhand |
 |
| The natural disaster in Uttarakhand |