Uttarakhand Disaster - A Rude Wake-Up Call

A devastating flash flood in the Himalayan state highlights the urgent need to protect the region’s fragile environment and review unbridled development activity

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

The disaster that unfolded on February 7 in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand after a portion of a ‘hanging glacier’ on the slopes of Nanda Devi broke off and triggered flash floods strikes yet another environmental alarm bell for India’s Himalayan regions. The glacial collapse, near Raini village above Joshimath in the state’s Chamoli district, sent a wall of water and debris down the Dhauliganga and Rishiganga tributaries of the Alaknanda river, causing significant destruction along the route, including damage to major hydropower projects. At least 32 people are dead and over 170 are reported missing.

The devastation evoked memories of the June 2013 flash floods in the state, caused by a cloudburst near the Kedarnath shrine, which left nearly 700 dead. By afternoon, though, such fears receded as the gates of a downstream dam in Srinagar, in Pauri Garhwal, were opened while the gates of the Tehri Dam were shut to allow passage of the surging waters of the Alaknanda into the Ganga at the confluence in Devprayag.

The floods wrecked NTPC’s Tapovan Vishnugad 520 MW hydel project and wiped out the under-construction Rishiganga mini-hydel project, roads, bridges as well as homes. A majority of those missing are feared stuck in tunnels at these two power projects. Reports also suggest major damage to THDC India’s 444 MW Pipalkoti and the Jaypee Group’s 400 MW Vishnuprayag hydropower projects. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), army, air force and state agencies are engaged in rescue and evacuation.

WHAT CAUSED IT?