Uttarkhand Disaster-Himalayan Tsunami.
1. The Disaster:
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Heavy rainfall from 14 to 17 June 2013. IMD’s forecast was updated from “rather heavy rainfall”,
“very heavy rainfall” and then to “extremely heavy rainfall”. This was not given wide publicity.
The raging Bhagirathi, Alaknanda and Mandakini have swollen like never before and swept away
whatever came in their way
Wall of water coming down the slopes
Landslides in the hill slopes, destroying the roads and thereby affecting rescue operations.
2. Disaster response:
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Communication gaps-Policy gaps- implementation gapsThe state is among five in the country to have Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre
(DMMC), an autonomous body for disaster management.
Poor coordination between disaster management agencies amplified the impact
Despite warnings from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the state machinery could
not crank itself up to meet the challenge.
On June 16, state government officials did nothing more than issue an advisory about open and
blocked roads. Soon, heavy downpour caused floods and landslides.
On June 19, as the army was battling against time to rescue people, there was utter chaos in the
administration. Bureaucrats, sitting inside expensive hotels, were screaming on their mobile
phones. At the Rudraprayag police control room, no one knew what action to take.
It took Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to come down to Uttarakhand to admit that there
was no coordination among government agencies, which was hampering rescue operations.
(Following information should be read from Akshay’s article on Crisis management.
http://mrunal.org/2013/10/result-september-writing-competition-revision-notes-for-everyonerepresentation-of-peoples-act-internal-security-infrastructure-andmore.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CivilServic
eExam+%28Civil+Services+Exam%29 Providing this info the for the sake of completeness)
o Disaster management Act 2005 ---->(Eye wash Act after Indian Tsunami)
o National/State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA, NDMA)are supposed to be
setup
o On side note “In April 2013, CAG placed a report in Parliament pointing out that NDMA
is not properly informed about the disaster management work in states. Projects that
were initiated for disaster preparedness and mitigation have not been properly
implemented, it states.”
o According to the Disaster Management Act of 2004, NDMA should have an advisory
committee of experts for disaster management at the national, state and district levels.
In 2007, it constituted its first advisory committee for two years. The committee’s term
was extended for a year. After its end, setting up of a new committee was delayed
because many ministries failed to nominate experts, say NDMA officials.
3. How it happened?
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Early monsoon in the Northern India
Because of various reasons including climate change, change in the pressure systems, trough
formation because of westerlies in UP and Bihar and no characteristic monsoon break.
Freak Rainfall for three days. Fragile ecosystem and loose soil. (aggravated by deforestation)
This is what happened in Kedarinath…Young mountains; Narrow river (Mandakini) because of
the mountains; huge landslides breaking the path; Lake formation; Change in the course of river;
too much of water when the wall gave away.
See in the above image Kedarinath is sitting right in harm’s way.
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Where did so much of water come from? Cloud burst1, Good amount of precipitation in the
form of rainfall thanks to orographic effect2; Too much of snow in the preceding days (evidence
from satellite pictures). Water falling on Snow, melting glaciers---->Meaning more water.
4. Why it happened/ and who is to blame?
This is a disaster waiting to happen. Too many dams; Fragile and sensitive ecosystem fitted with too
many hydro power projects; too many illegal construction near the river banks; quarrying and illegal
smuggling of sand helped in changing the course of the river. Reasons:
4.1 Human induced reasons:
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Roads on a young mountain range- a destabilizing factor.
45 dams On Ganga and its tributaries; 3 GW power; 199 big and small dams in pipeline; No
Environment impact assessment3 is required for small dams. But cumulative effect of those
damns would be huge. Heavy machines on the road- Not so good. Deforestation; (Some people
claim that Dams indeed mitigated the effects of freak rains.)
Deforestation: From the area under forest cover has increased. Quality of the forest cover
reduced because of damns and the junk it would generate. Sometimes compensatory
afforestation4 is done in the neighbouring states.
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Human induced GHG and climate change resulting in more such extreme events; There will be
more rain; there will be less number of rainy days with huge amount of rain.
155% increase in number of tourists visiting UK for the last decade. No residence facilities. Illegal
constructions on riverside used as hotels. All of them are washed away.
Illegal local quarrying of Ganga’s Sand. Swami Nigamananda died fasting for 68 days to stop it.
Unscientific mining helped rivers increase their width. (9 mts is dug instead of .9 mts)
Nature’s Fury explained in “How it happened”
5. What should we do to obviate risks from nature of this sort?
1. Development is required but it should be sustainable development.
2. Himalayan region is very fragile. Prone to : Seismic activity, Cloud bursts, landslides and
corrosion. Hydro power projects are necessary for development. But that should not affect the
natural course of rivers and their flow. Their flow in the lean periods and rich periods should be
read and comprehensive solutions should be yielded. Gap between such projects is also very
important. Urbanization is important but not at the cost of forests. India should develop forest
based economy in forest rich states. (UK, NE states)
3. Check the tourism. Permit only a few. Have a buffer. Later develop ability to cater for the needs
of huge number of tourists.
4. In the larger picture, Climate change can affect the lives of people in huge number of ways. First
alternative is to stop messing with nature. (Which is kind of difficult if you want to achieve
MDGs by the end of this millennium . On a serious note- have low carbon development
strategy). Second alternative, at least find ways to mitigate its effects.
5. Environ friendly way of building the roads, dams. Blasting your way through should be stopped.
6. Definitions: (Following definitions are topics in themselves. So the reading should not end here rather it should
start here)
1. Cloudburst: A cloudburst is an extreme amount of precipitation, sometimes with hail and thunder,
which normally lasts no longer than a few minutes but is capable of creating flood conditions.
Colloquially, the term cloudburst may be used to describe any sudden heavy, brief, and usually
unforecast rainfall. (This question was asked in the IFoS mains)
2. Orographic Effect: The orographic effect is when rainfall occurs because of forced or sudden lifting of
an air mass over a mountain. This happens on the windward side of a mountain.
3. Environment Impact Assessment (EIA): An EIA is an assessment of the possible impacts that a
proposed project may have on the environment, consisting of the environmental, social and economic
aspects. The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the environmental
impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project
4. Compensatory Afforestation: Afforestation done to compensate loss of forests because of a project.
References:
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Most of the content is from http://www.downtoearth.org.in/themes/DTE/ukparralax/uk_flood.htm
Image 2 was taken from http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/floods-uttarakhand-explained
Image 1 was taken from http://www.gujaratweather.com/wordpress/?tag=mayhem
Cloundburst and EIA definitions taken from wikipedia
Information of Rain falling snow taken from Frontline.
Rakesh Prudhvi Kasthuri,