Himachal disaster of Aug2023

It was not a bumper to bumper deluge in Himachal Pradesh (& Uttarakhand) but the rains of 14Aug2023 came close enough to the floods and landslides of Jul2023
The satellite image and moisture incursion images which STH posted at 630.am on 14Aug2023 in its WhatsApp group proved rather prophetic, in view of the disaster which was to follow in Himachal later:

Meteorological conditions
Though the met. conditions which led to the intense rainfall were similar to that which occurred in July, Dr Dave Petley whom I consulted gave a rather interesting reason for the landslides which took place:
Me:  Is the western disturbance/ monsoon current combination in the NW Himalayas   responsible for this intensity of rain? 
• We get more rainfall in the eastern Himalayas but landslide disasters are more frequent in Himachal and Uttarakhand these days.
Dave:Often landslides are triggered by the variation from the mean intensity for a location more than the intensity itself. I guess the landscape is more adapted to very extreme rain in the east than in the west. HP and Uttarakhand seem to get repeated events that exceed the mean by a long way now.
Rainfall data

Significant rainfall recorded (in cm):
✓ Uttarakhand: Dehradun: Rishikesh-42, Sahastradhara-25, Uni, Mussoorie, Raiwala-19 each, Mohkampur-18, Jollygrant-17, Chakrata- 8, Haripur-7, PAURI GARHWAL: Lansdown-17, Yamkeshwar-15, Kotdwar-11, Rikhnikhal-10, Satpuli- 9, Srinagar -7; CHAMPAWAT: Chalthi-16, Bastia-14, Tanakpur- 10, Champawat-9, Champawat-8, Lohaghat-7; TEHRI GARHWAL:
Rani_Chawri-15, Tehri-12, Devprayag-14, Koteshwer, Narendranagar-8 each, Dhanolti, Ghansali-7 each; BAGESHWAR: Liti-16, Song-8, Kanda-7, UDHAM SINGH NAGAR: Jaspur-10; PITHORAGARH: Didihat-8, Berinag, Jauljibi-7 each,
✓ Himachal Pradesh:
Kangra (dist Kangra) 27, Sujanpur Tira (dist Hamirpur) 25, Dharmsala (dist
Kangra) 25, Palampur (dist Kangra) 22, Guler (dist Kangra) 19, Jogindarnagar (dist Mandi) 18, Nagrota Surian (dist Kangra) 18, Kataula (dist Mandi) 17, Sundarnagar (dist Mandi) 17, Baldwara (dist Mandi) 15, Mandi (dist Mandi) 14, Shimla (dist Shimla) 13, Dharmshala (dist Kangra) 13, Barthin (dist Bilaspur) 13, Simla (dist Shimla) 13, Berthin (dist Bilaspur) 12, Gohar (dist Mandi) 12, Nahan (dist Sirmaur) 11, Ghumarwin (dist Bilaspur) 10, Kasauli (dist Solan) 10, Paonta (dist Sirmaur) 9, Dalhousi Alha (dist Chamba) 8, Nadaun (dist Hamirpur) 8, Bilaspur Sadar (dist Bilaspur) 8, Arki (dist Solan) 8, Kufri Aws (dist Shimla) 8, Mashobra (dist Shimla) 7, Aghar (dist Hamirpur) 7, Rohru (distShimla) 7, Mehre (barsar) (dist Hamirpur) 7, Kandaghat (dist Solan) 7
Early warning:
The rainfall forecast together with antecedent rainfall should have been important indicators of the disaster which followed plus IIT Mandi had been working on a sensor base LEWS (Landslide Early Warning System) project for some years now. Placed below is an image of the early warning which is available online from the NRSC website:

Disaster Details
Much information is available in YouTube and in the media on the disaster. STH is awaiting for more specific inputs besides those already available. What is known is that more than 50 persons perished in yesterdays' rainfall and the landslides which followed.
Will keep posting updates as and when available.

Update on the landslides.
See here for Dr Dave Petley's post on the '14August Landslides in Himachal'

Update on the road situation as on 16Aug2023.
Road Situation Report  upto  1900  Hrs. –
1) NH 21 Mandi-Kullu Via Pandoh road blocked at various places due to land sliding.
2) Mandi-Kullu via Kataula road closed due to restoration work till 10 Am tomorrow.
3) Sundernagar- Chail Chowk –Gohar- Kullu road  through upto Pandoh for LMV only and Pandoh to Aut blocked at Kainchi Mor (near Pandoh Dam)  due to heavy sliding.
4) NH 21 Mandi –Sundernagar -Slapper  and four lane via Dehar road through  .
 5) Mandi to Karsog via Rohanda blocked due to land sliding, Karsog to Luhri road blocked at Kotlu/Shilh and Karsog to Shimla Road through.
6) Mandi to Dharampur blocked at Saroli and Dharampur to sandhol road blocked at Sarari, Sakloh due to land sliding.
7)  Mandi to Sarkaghat blocked at Durgapur  and Sarkaghat to Dharampur  road through via Paplog.
8) NH 154 Mandi –Padhar  road through for LMV via Diana park.
9) Nerchowk-Kalkhar , rewalsar  road  blocked at various places  due to land sliding.
10) Mandi to Janjehli road blocked at various places due to landsliding and Janjehli-Karsog via Raigarh blocked due to land sliding and janjehli  to chatri road blocked at Magru gala.
  
Weather Cloudy.

Update from NDTV (17Aug2023)

At least 71 people have died in the past three days and 13 are still missing in Himachal Pradesh after devastating rains pounded the state, with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu terming the work of rebuilding infrastructure a "mountain-like challenge". The death count from landslides and flashfloods jumped on Wednesday as rescuers pulled out more bodies from the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said. Heavy rains have battered the hill state since Sunday, triggering landslides in several districts including Shimla where three areas -- Summer Hill, Fagli and Krishna Nagar -- are badly hit by landslips.
"At least 71 people have died in the past three days and 13 are still missing. As many as 57 bodies have been recovered since Sunday night," Principal Secretary (Revenue) Onkar Chand Sharma said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Sukhu said that about 60 people have died since Sunday night.
In an interview with PTI, Mr Sukhu said his state will take a year to rebuild the infrastructure wrecked by the heavy rains this monsoon and claimed that the estimated loss in the two devastating spells of heavy rains - this week and in July - is about ₹ 10,000 crore.
The chief minister said it takes time to rebuild roads and water projects. But the government is speeding up the process. "We have to get the infrastructure fully restored within a year. I am working with this in mind." "It's a big challenge, a mountain-like challenge," he said. According to the state emergency operation centre, in total 214 people have died in the rain-related incidents in the state since the onset of monsoon on June 24 while 38 are still missing.
"Rescue operations are going on in Summer Hill and Krishna Nagar areas...one body was recovered from Summer Hill site," Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI. He said so far 13 bodies have been recovered from Summer Hill, five from Fagli and two from Krishna Nagar. Some bodies are still feared buried in the debris of the Shiva temple at Summer Hill that collapsed on Monday. About 15 houses in Krishna Nagar have been vacated and the families shifted to safer places. Several others have vacated their homes themselves fearing slides due to incessant rains.The Education department had ordered closure of all schools and colleges in the state on Wednesday due to inclement weather and the Himachal Pradesh University has suspended teaching activities till August 19.About 800 roads are blocked in the state and the losses suffered by the state since the onset of monsoon on June 24 have crossed ₹ 7,480 crore, officials said, adding as many as 10,714 houses have been completely or partially damaged so far.Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has urged the Centre to declare national calamity in Himachal Pradesh and release ₹ 2,000 crore for restoration works.

 Update from The Statesman (20Aug2023)

Update from NDTV (21Aug2023)
Mandi:
Ten people, who were trapped in a reservoir in Himachal Pradesh since last evening, have been rescued, officials said.
Officials said their boat got stuck in the Kol Dam reservoir in Mandi yesterday due to rise in water levels following incessant rain.
Five of those who were stuck in the reservoir are employees of the forest department, they said.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was rushed to the spot after locals informed the police about the incident.
More than 338 people have died in Himachal Pradesh in rain-related incidents since the onset of Monsoon this year, while 38 people are missing, according to the state emergency operation centre.
Incessant rain has led to landslides, cloudburst, and flash floods, causing significant damage in the State. The government of Himachal Pradesh has declared the whole state as a 'natural calamity affected area'.
According to the latest information provided by the state government, the total monetary loss in Himachal has reached ₹ 8,014.61 crore since June 24.
Update about Himachal landslide of 24Aug2023

From Dr Dave Petley's blog

Update about Himachal landslide of 31Aug2023

 Update about Himachal landslide of 03Sep2023

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

STH activities: IMI's Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) IX and the Disaster Risk Reduction Session

The Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) is one of the flagship programs of IMI and SMDS IX along with the Youth Summit kicked off from Uttarakhand on 08Dec and ended on 14Dec2020. The 6 day event went off smoothly without any major technical hiccups or internet outages because the whole program was held virtually due to the pandemic.
The Darjeeling HImalaya Initiative which is the W Bengal State chapter of IMI was responsible for organizing and conduct of Disaster Risk Reduction session on Day -2 of the summit and we had as our main speakers an amazing line up of resource persons:

The Facebook link of the event is here

Many thanks to the resource persons and speakers during our session.Thanks also to Roshan our incomparable compere and Shreya for helping out resolve the technical issues. Our thanks to the young and vibrant IMI people from the Secretariat and of course our gratitude to the audience.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Kalimpong Himalaya

Climate Change (Input 2) - Insights from a recent paper : 'Anthropogenic footprint of climate change in the June 2013 Northern India flood'

 Synopsis of the Report :-

1. During 13 –17 June 2013, heavy rainfall occurred in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand and led to one of the worst floods and landslides in history, resulting in more than 5000 casualties and a huge loss of property. This event also affected other parts of India including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, as well as western Nepal and parts of Tibet.

2. In a study by scientists, meteorological and climatic conditions leading up to this rainfall event in 2013 and similar cases were analyzed for the period of 1979–2012.

• Using complex meteorological models to study natural and anthropogenic influences as well as the role of the long-term climate trends on rainfall in the region it was found that:-  Northern India has experienced increasingly large rainfall in June since the late 1980s.
•  The increase in rainfall appears to be associated with a tendency in the upper troposphere towards amplified short waves.
•  The phasing of such amplified short waves is tied to increased loading of green-house gases and aerosols.
•  In June2013, 60–90 % of the rainfall amount was attributed to post-1980 climate trends with another study revealing that though this rainfall was at least a century scale event, the probability for such an incident recurring has increased in the present climate compared to that of pre-industrial times.

3. The study also found that such heavy rainfall and widespread flood events have become increasingly frequent in northern South Asia :-

•  In July2010, an extreme rainfall event in northern Pakistan resulted in floods that killed about 3000 and affected around 20 million people.

• More recently (2–6 September 2014), some regions in India (Jammu and Kashmir) and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab) suffered extreme floods caused by heavy rainfall which killed more than 500 people.

4. The study found that increased levels of greenhouse gases and aerosols in the post-1980 period have caused changes in the upper troposphere and that as a result of anthropogenic climate change, the circulation structure has been modified in such a way that it significantly aggravates rainstorm occurrences in northern South Asia, hence increasing the severity of floods.
5. Also, the occurrence of this June 2013 event during pre-monsoon season in northern South Asia, along with the circulation and precipitation trends in June, calls for the adaptation of risk management strategies in the face of increasingly frequent and strong rainstorms outside the core monsoon months (July–August). Adaptation measures such as developing strategies and policies for flood management in the face of climate-related extreme events are urged.
6. In addition, the amplified upper-level stationary waves and associated dynamics, as revealed in this study, will need to be represented accurately in the forecasting tools revealed in the post-1980 trends is attributed.

The full paper is available here
For animation of the cloud movements of the 'Uttarakhand Cloudburst' see here

" It appears that the increase in aerosols due to pollution, combined with changes in the jet stream due to increasing greenhouse gases, have made June events like the 2013 flood more likely to occur since 1988."
- Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology, wunderground.com

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

Rainfall data July 2014 and associated landslide activity.

Deficient rainfall in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

As can be seen from the rainfall data of some stations of the region (slide -1) there was an overall deficiency in the amount of rainfall in the month of Jul2014. The monsoon rainfall normally peaks in July (see here) before starting to decline in Aug/Sep and withdrawing from the sub-continent in Oct.
However, in 2014 rainfall in Kalimpong was almost 40% deficient resulting in inability by farmers to plant the full paddy crop this year in some parts of Pudung village (Kalimpong). All other stations also show decline in rainfall in 2014 to varying degrees.
This is in keeping with the data obtained from IMD in slide -2 (see details here).

Landslide activity

• No major landslides and no deaths due to landslides in Darjeeling or Sikkim in July2014.
• Malin village in Maharastra, India - 151deaths due to landslide on 30Jul2014. 
• Pangla, on Dharchula-Kailash Mansarovar yatra, in Pithoragarh district - 5 deaths on 27July2014
  
  Praful Rao,
  Kalimpong,
  Dist Darjeeling

Challenges of Devastating Indian Landslides - an article by Dr RK Bhandari

It is all in the books that landslides are among the major hydro-geological hazards that affect large parts of India, especially the Himalayas, the northeastern hill ranges, the Western Ghats, the Nilgiris, the Eastern Ghats and the Vindhyas, in that order. In the Himalayas one could find landslides of every name, fame and description. India’s northeastern region, the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, Sikkim, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh are all landslide-prone. In Uttarakhand also, it would therefore be inappropriate to see the Kedarnath tragedy of 16–17 June 2013, as merely an isolated event frozen in time and space.
Whenever landslide disasters strike, we rush to lean on fixed ideas in our minds. From the school days we are tutored that events like landslides and earthquakes are only to be regarded as nature’s safety valves because we live on the surface of an unfinished planet. The fragile ecology, immature geology, meandering rivers, snow bodies, climatic variations and cloudbursts of the Himalayas are after all our inheritance without choice. For centuries, landslides have come and gone, and these can be explained by recounting a long list of causative factors. If and when our justification is not good enough, there is climate change to buttress our argumentation. But, by ignoring human violence against nature, we only speak the half truth. Let us always remember that ‘a scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it’ [Max Planck].
Those who make off-the-cuff conclusions must know that the science of landslides has no contract with their way of thinking. It demands honest and comprehensive scientific studies. We can understand landslides only by elucidation of landslide boundary-shears, concurrent monitoring of time-dependent piezometric pressures, surface and subslope displacements and mapping of ground deformations and shear zones, plus behavioural studies of associated human settlements form an integral part of the landslide investigation. Sadly, success will continue to elude us so long as scientific landslide investigation does not precede landslide remediation. We have not been able to fix the landslides not because of lack of expertise or technology, but because we never had the will or direction to do so.
It has almost become ritualistic to name cloudburst to explain away cataclysmic floods and devastating landslide events, without even attempting to understand the slope dynamics in the ecological theatre of nature. We did so to explain the great Alaknanda tragedy of 20–21 July 1970 in Uttarakhand on the premise that the previous maxima of 200 mm rainfall recorded at Joshimath on 28 September 1924 was crossed by a new high of 212.8 mm. Further probe removed a layer to show that the tragedy was caused by the bursting of a landslide dam. The formation of the landslide dam on Alaknanda was then traced to the enormous sediment load brought by Patalganga. And this huge sediment load was in turn traced to numerous landslides in the Patalganga valley. Further, it became evident that these landslides themselves were the result of neglect, misuse and abuse of our lands for decades on end. But for the ecological neglect, the Alaknanda floods would not have hit the headlines.
We are yet again stumped by the ghastly Kedarnath tragedy and cajoled by the very same reason – cloudburst, which is in fact no more than the most visible trigger at the tipping point. Could we have anticipated the trouble? The answer is no, because we had neither fail-safe instrumentation nor real-time vigil on our glaciers, glacial lakes, moraine  accumulations, dormant and active landslides, rivers and their tributaries and unsafe housing stock. We plead for zero tolerance against mindless urbanization, but suffer it instead. We have mapped landslide hazards on the pilgrim routes many times over, but never placed a single user-friendly validated map in the hands of disaster managers. We should do it now.
We should not continue to ignore the gross disconnect between our scientific discourse and our approach to hazard-mapping. In scientific discourse, we dread factors such as climate change, exceptional rain, receding of glaciers, bursting of glacial lakes, poor road alignments, non-engineered constructions, earthquake-induced landslides, and overtopping of dams. However, in the case of hazard-mapping, we disregard all these factors and only account for lithology, structure, slope morphometry, relative relief, land use/land cover and hydro-geological condition India needs large-scale, validated and user-friendly hazard maps based on a scientific understanding of the multitude of factors, both natural and human induced.
The main reason why the natural landslide hazards are turning into man-made disasters is because people have not only moved in large numbers to the remotest of the mountain slopes where no one ever lived before, but the violence they have unleashed against nature is unprecedented. There is a Chinese saying that ‘a man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones’. We have been removing, not small stones, but mountains of rocks for building townships, roads, dams and reservoirs. Many of the landslides we know are the result of these very actions, and they in turn remove from slopes incredibly large amount of sediments, loading rivers, silting reservoirs and creating new land masses in the sea. Little do we realize that when a slope gets robbed of one inch of its soil cover, Nature may take nearly 1000 years to replenish it! It is time therefore to revive the Chipko Movement and reverse the trend of slope degradation.
One vexing question which often haunts us is whether a landslide can be predicted and a landslide disaster averted? In Uttarakhand, some of the landslides occur annually. We do not need any rocket science to predict them; simple slope instrumentation and monitoring would do. Similarly, mountain slopes supporting human habitat with visible signs of instability like tilting of trees, bulging of retaining walls and widespread ground subsidence are already on the verge of failure. What more early warning do we need to predict a landslide in such situations? It is a scientifically proven fact that even the first time landslides are predictable provided we probe deep enough to arrive at the bottom of the truth, through studies, instrumentation and monitoring. Like human beings, a slope also has a heart that beats! Let us recall Terzaghi, who more than six decades ago said that ‘If a landslide comes as a surprise to eye witnesses, it would be more accurate to say that the observers failed to detect the phenomena which preceded the slide.’
Today, we have the knowledge, tools and experience we need to predict and avert most, if not all, landslides. By tapping the phenomenal power of geotechnology, instrumentation, remote sensing, integrated GPS and information communication systems, we can monitor unstable areas in real time even during unfavourable weather conditions. It is time therefore to launch selected mission-mode projects to initially cover timely prediction of (a) possible reactivation of major old, dormant and seasonal landslides, (b) landslides and floods due to bursting of glacial lakes, (c) flash floods due to bursting of landslide dams, (d) first-time landslides in urban and strategically important areas falling in the zone of exceptional landslide hazard and (e) rockfalls. But, why is this not happening?
The criteria for early warning against landslides we use must be credible. The direct connection between ‘incidence’ of a landslide and ‘rainfall’ may look both obvious and simple, and may even work in cases where ground conditions are already bad enough and rainfall exceptional. There is a strong case to position monitoring stations to advance on-line rainfall forecasting procedures using digital radar data and an on-line run-off forecasting procedure based on space techniques to enhance lead time. The early warning criteria we aim should be rooted in holistic and concurrent interpretation of real-time rainfall records, seismic records, spatial piezometric variations, slope surface and subsurface movements and movement rates on discrete boundary shears, runout effects and other collateral threats in the catchment and on the higher slopes. We should refrain from over-simplifying the criteria for early warning to minimize bogus forecasts and it must be continuously put to test. We must prepare ourselves to effectively utilize every second of the available lead time.
We have all agreed time and again that landslide disaster management should be integrated with development planning. The vast potential for hydro-power in Uttarakhand is in a sense a big blessing, but the way it is being exploited is a curse as hydro-power schemes are no longer environment-friendly and power generation is no longer based on natural flows and sound engineering. Unless safety issues appear continuously on RADAR, mega projects like the Tehri dam will always keep us on tenterhooks.
Dozens of landslides in India, like the one at Kaliasaur on the Srinagar–Rudraprayag highway, are quite old. We should fix them once for all. A township on a landslide infested mountain slope can be best tackled by looking at the stability of the mountain as a whole rather than frittering away the resources in fixing landslides affecting individual buildings. We need breed the culture of truth-seeking rather than data-seeking nature of landslide investigations. Our reports and papers by hindsight reflect more of perceptions inspired by loyalty to the accepted trends than science. In many cases, truth eludes us because vital field evidences get erased even before landslide investigations begin.

R. K. Bhandari

Forum on Engineering Interventions in Disaster

Mitigation,

Indian National Academy of Engineering,

New Delhi 110 016, India

e-mail: rajmee@yahoo.com

Comment by Praful Rao
Dr RK Bhandari, is long acknowledged to be one of the foremost authorities on landslides in the world. STH is proud to be associated with him from several years back.

Reporter's Diaries: The catastrophe that hit Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand Cloudburst Jun2013

Uttarakhand Cloud Burst

 More PowerPoint presentations from praful rao 

Technical advice from Dr B Nandi
About Dr B Nandi :

Dr Nandi is a renowned Aviation Meteorologist in India. He has served Indian Air Force for 33 years in various capacities. He is the founder Director of Centre for Numerical Weather Prediction for Air Force. He is an Alumni of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith, Purulia; Ramakrishna Mission College Narendrapur, Kolkata University; Burdwan University and Centre for Atmospheric Science, IIT, Delhi. Currently engaged as Chief  Meteorologist for Indigo Airlines for last 7 years.

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist Darjeeling

STH ACTIVITIES : Awareness campaign in Turuk, Sikkim - 04 July 2013

STH has always made an effort to educate the youth, about the hazards of landslides and extreme weather events in the Sub Himalayan region.
On 04 July 2013 STH conducted an awareness camp in Turuk bustee (village) in South Sikkim. There were around 85 people in attendance, most of them  students. STH talked about the recent events in Uttarakhand, cloud burst and a real danger of such an event occuring in this region along with the prevention and mitigation aspects of landslides.
Special thanks to Pastor Mathais Subba of Hyssop Ministries for organizing this camp.

Rohan Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling.
rohan.rao1313@gmail.com

Rainfall data Darjeeling district and N Sikkim - Jun2013

Jun2013 was extraordinary; it was the month of the "Himalayan Tsunami" when torrential rains over Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in mid Jun2013, caused unprecedented loss of life and a disaster which the country is still trying to grapple with.
Whilst the rest of the country reported normal to excess rainfall, the north eastern states of India went deficient in rainfall. STH reported the formation of two low pressure areas in the Bay of Bengal, the first weather system eventually reaching the Uttarakhand region in mid Jun2013.
Also, two interesting facts observed in Jun2013 were :-

• The 24hr rainfall over Dehradun on 17Jun2013 (338mm) was more than the entire month's rainfall in Kalimpong for Jun2013.
• In the Darjeeling -Sikkim area, approximately half the month of June2013 was almost dry (less than 5mm rainfall).
  
  
  Praful Rao,
  Kalimpong,
  Dist Darjeeling.
  
  
  
  

Relevant Youtube video : 'Reclaiming the Himalayas'

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Darjeeling district

Focus on Uttarakhand 4 - Images of Kedarnath temple area

Placed on top is an image of the Kedarnath temple before and after the GLOF. 
Placed below is a still from the animation of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), India

For those interested , there are some excellent articles on the 'Down To Earth' website on the Uttarakhand tragedy.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Darjeeling district

Focus on Uttarakhand 3 : Extracts from UNDMT Situation Report (2) and a blog of repute

 

Source : Solution Exchange, UN
____________________________________________________________________

For readers interested in following the events in Uttarakhand along with expert analysis, I would strongly urge you to look up Dr David Petley's blog. It is here
 

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong,

District Darjeeling

Focus on Uttarakhand 2

The untold story from Uttarakhand  by Ravi Chopra (Excerpt from 'The HINDU')

The impact of the floods on Uttarakhand’s tourism leads to larger questions of what kind of development Himalayan States should pursue. Before delving into that, it is important to understand the nature of the rainfall that deluged the State. Already several voices are arguing that the deluge is a random, ‘freak’ event. Odisha’s super cyclone in 1999, torrential rains in Mumbai in 2005, and now the Uttarakhand downpour constitute three clear weather related events in less than 15 years, each causing massive destruction or dislocation in India. These can hardly be called ‘freak’ events.

Several reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have repeatedly warned that extreme weather incidents will become more frequent with global warming. We are already riding the global warming curve. We will have to take into account the likelihood of more frequent extreme weather events when planning for development, especially in the fragile Himalayan region where crumbling mountains become murderous.

In the 1990s, when the demand for a separate State gained momentum, at conferences, meetings, workshops and seminars, Uttarakhandi people repeatedly described the special character of the region. Consciousness created by the pioneering Chipko Andolan raised the hopes of village women that their new State would pursue a green development path, where denuded slopes would be reforested, where fuel wood and fodder would be plentiful in their own village forests, where community ownership of these forests would provide their men with forest products-based employment near their villages instead of forcing them to migrate to the plains, where afforestation and watershed development would revive their dry springs and dying rain-fed rivers, and where the scourge of drunken, violent men would be overcome.

Year after year — in cities, towns and villages — they led demonstrations demanding a mountain state of their own. Theirs was a vision of development that would first enhance the human, social and natural capital of the State. Recalling the tremendous worldwide impact of the Chipko movement, Uttarakhandi women dreamed of setting yet another example for the world of what people-centric development could look like.

But in the 13 years after statehood, the leadership of the State has succumbed to the conventional model of development with its familiar and single-minded goal of creating monetary wealth. With utter disregard for the State’s mountain character and its delicate ecosystems, successive governments have blindly pushed roads, dams, tunnels, bridges and unsafe buildings even in the most fragile regions.

In the process, denuded mountains have remained deforested, roads designed to minimise expenditure rather than enhance safety have endangered human lives, tunnels blasted into mountainsides have further weakened the fragile slopes and dried up springs, ill-conceived hydropower projects have destroyed rivers and their ecosystems, and hotels and land developers have encroached on river banks.

Yes, wealth has been generated but the beneficiaries are very few — mainly in the towns and cities of the southern terai plains and valleys where production investments have concentrated. In the mountain villages, agricultural production has shrivelled, women still trudge the mountain slopes in search of fodder, fuel wood and water, and entire families wait longingly for an opportunity to escape to the plains.

Last week’s floods have sounded an alarm bell. To pursue development without concern for the fragile Himalayan environment is to invite disaster. Eco-sensitive development may mean a slower monetary growth rate but a more sustainable and equitable one.
(The writer is Director, People’s Science Institute, Dehra Dun and Member (Expert), National Ganga River Basin Authority)

The full article is here

 Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Darjeeling district.

Darjeeling & Sikkim - queuing up for the next 'Himalayan Tsunami'

Do you notice the uncanny similarity between images of the 'Himalayan Tsunami' of mid-Jun2013 (placed on the LHS) and those from the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya (on RHS)?

Here are 10 reasons why the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya could also suffer the same fate as Uttarakhand :-
           

• Our geographical location on the southern most part of the Himalayan arc is unique. As such the Darjeeling – Sikkim Himalaya is situated barely 800km north of the Bay of Bengal, which brews up 5-7 cyclones or depressions annually.
• Due to our location, our average annual rainfall is approx 3000mm, double that of Uttarakhand (1523mm) and 3 X the national average.
• Rainfall pattern has shown a perceptible change in the recent past – extremes in rainfall being more the norm than an exception (In May2013 we had double the monthly rainfall but Jun2013 has been largely dry till date)
• We have a long history of landslide disasters viz Sep 1899, Jun 1950, Oct 1968, Sep 2007, Cyclone AILA in May 2009 and 18Sep2011 (earthquake induced).
• Geological Survey of India (or GSI, the nodal Govt. body looking after landslides in India) categorizes our area as amongst the most landslide prone in the country.
• In the recent past, there has been phenomenal developmental activity much of which has been unplanned and haphazard, paying scant heed to building codes etc.
  More than 30 dams have been constructed or are planned in the Teesta river basin.
  Also the tremendous rural to urban migration has resulted in our major towns showing signs of severe distress with basic civic facilities such as potable water, public latrines, solid waste management and most importantly, drainage being on the verge of collapse. Densely populated colonies have sprung up on unstable and unsafe slopes.
  Non-engineered roads constructed on a massive scale all over the region by poorly trained or unemployed petty contractors will be a major cause of landslides in the future.
• Both Darjeeling and Sikkim have large scale influx of tourists, many more than the pilgrims who were caught up in the Uttarakhand disaster.
• Densely populated settlements and towns such as Rangpo, Singtam, Majitar, Melli, Jorethang have comeup along banks of rivers ie Teesta and Rangit.
• As population increases, forest cover has reduced all over the region
• Even after the earthquake of 18Sep2011, disaster management has received little priority in this region.

Photo credits of Darjeeling/Sikkim :
Kundan Yolmo, Sikkim Express, Das Studio (Darjeeling)
Photos from Uttarakhand obtained from the internet.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Darjeeling District.