Experts: Dharali Disaster Not Isolated, Need Study

Four days after raging waters buried half of Dharali village in Uttarkashi, experts have stressed the need to study the existing settlements located on the river banks or in the flood plains.

- Press Trust Of India

‘They say that the Dharali disaster should not be seen as an isolated case.

Dr. Sushil Kumar, former senior scientist at the Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, said, “Now the time has come to study all those areas where large settlements have come up on the headlands of rivers and streams.”

Headlands are the plains situated on the banks of the river which are covered by floods from time to time. These plains are usually made up of soil, silt, sand and gravel deposited by the river.

Due to the high amount of nutrients, this land is fertile, which makes it very useful for agriculture and because of this, villages and settlements are also established in these areas, but they are often at risk of floods.