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Uttarakhand Tragedy Report by- Garv Jain Analysis

Uttarakhand tragedy

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Page 1: Uttarakhand tragedy

Uttarakhand Tragedy

Report by-Garv JainX-E

Analysis

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Introduction In June 2013, a multi-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides. Destruction of bridges and roads left about 100,000 pilgrims and tourists trapped in the valleys leading to three of the four Hindu Chota Char Dhampilgrimage sites.

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Affected Areas

Areas of Uttarakhand affected•Rudra prayag•Kedarnath•Badrinath•Uttarkashi•Joshimath•Rambada•Chamoli•Dehradun

Though some parts of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India experienced the flood, some regions of Western Nepal, and some parts of Western Tibet also experienced heavy rainfall, over 95% of the casualties occurred in Uttarakhand. 

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VULNERABILITIESThe word “vulnerability” is of enormous significance as it is a measure of man’s prudence, aiming at reducing or minimizing the damaging consequences of the disasters.In Uttarakhand, the “vulnerability” factor had been left at the maximum due to indiscriminate constructions and lack of prudent practices. In other words, any “development” measures undertaken by citizens and governments with good intentions of removing poverty and increasing incomes, should never lose sight of the “vulnerability” factors.

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Indians in general never really tend to be law-abiding, “quality” conscious, and we go for short-cuts. We don’t believe in standards and want to become rich overnight. We will have to ingrain in ourselves ideas of excellence and adherence to law, which presently seems to be a tall order. In any case, we cannot turn away our eyes from dangers and must use at least some levels of prudence so that we don’t become hapless victims when nature strikes. So, to an extent and partially, the Uttarakhand disaster could be said to be “man-made” too.

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IMPACT OF THE FLOODS Landslides, due to the floods, damaged several houses and

structures, killing those who were trapped. The heavy rains resulted in large flashfloods and massive landslides. 

Entire villages and settlements such as Gaurikund and the market town of Ram Bada, a transition point to Kedarnath, have been obliterated, while the market town of Sonprayag suffered heavy damage and loss of lives.

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  Pilgrimage centres in the region, including Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the hallowed Hindu Chardham (four sites) pilgrimage centers, are visited by thousands of devotees, especially after the month of May onwards.

Over 70,000 people were stuck in various regions because of damaged or blocked roads. People in other important locations like the Valley of flowers, Roopkund and the Sikh pilgrimage centre Hemkund were stranded for more than three days.

National Highway 58, an important artery connecting the region was also washed away near Jyotirmath and in many other places. Because summers have more number of tourists, the number of people impacted is substantial. 

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Hazard Mapping

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Warning mechanismIndia’s disaster landscape denotes high vulnerability requiring adequate attention to early warning mechanisms, mitigation, capacity building in local, state and central agencies and effective cooperation in application of the same once tragedies like the heavy rain spell in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh denotes. It is time we overcome the siloed approach to emergencies and tackle the same with synergy and a holistic approach.

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Rehabilitation PlanThe government has announced several measures to rehabilitate Uttarakhand where 1500 people are still stuck and 3000 are still missing, and thousands of houses and roads have been washed away in flash floods and torrential rain. Union minister Jairam Ramesh made the announcements; Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna was also present.

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People in Uttarakhand will be provided guaranteed employment for 150 days instead of 100 days under the Centre's flagship MNREGA scheme

A statutory body named Uttarakhand Rehabilitation And Redevelopment Authority has been set up

All commercial establishments will be covered under the relief scheme, including dhabas or roadside eateries

School students will be given one-time relief of Rs. 500 each, college students will get Rs. 1000

Orphaned children will be put under the state government's care

Interest on loans from central banks will be deferred for a year

Free electricity and water will be provided to families in the affected areas

For small industries, Rs. 50,000 to 1 lakh will be given; for small hotels, Rs. 2 lakh as compensation

Central funds to re-establish road connectivity to 1,400 villages in Uttarakhand under PM Gram Sadak Yojana

Additional 14,000 houses to be built with central funding under Indira Awas Yojana

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DISASTER PREPAREDNESSOne of the major reasons why the Uttarakhand government was unable to contain the scale of the devastation that has taken place in the state because of flash floods was its lack of preparedness to deal with such disasters. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India had warned the state two months ago about its dysfunctional disaster management system.In its performance audit report on the disaster management mechanism in the country, submitted to Parliament on April 23, CAG had highlighted that the Uttarakhand disaster management authority (SDMA), constituted in 2007, had not formulated any rules, regulations, policies or guidelines for disaster management in the state. The authority is headed by the chief minister and has eight more members in it. The state executive committee that was constituted in 2008 to advise SDMA on matters of disaster management had also not met since its creation.

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Vulnerable villages not shiftedThe CAG report highlighted that the Geological Survey of India had identified 101 of the 233 Uttarakhand villages affected by the disaster of of 2008 as vulnerable. But the state did not make any arrangement for relocation of these villages in the past five years. CAG also noted irregularities in the management of the state disaster response fund.

No action planWorse, the state did not even have the mandatory disaster management plan prescribed by the Disaster Management Act of 2005. The actionable programmes for various disasters were still under preparation when disaster struck though these should have been well in place given that Uttarakhand has a history of being hit by natural disasters, said CAG.

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Alternate Communication Systems During a Disaster

INTRODUCTION

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Current Scenario

The recent cloud burst and heavy rains, India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand created a nightmarish situation in just about 20 hours. Water played with the lives of commoners, landslides demolished homes, hotels, took away people, cars, buses and demolished the roads and with it paralyzed the transportation network as well. As a result many places were cut off from the country and people were on their own stranded, as if left to die in solitude!All this happened at a time when technology seems to be controlling everything, from the way we move around to the way we behave and communicate vehemently. How could this happen? Or did the government let this happen? It may take thousands of crores of rupees and years before normalcy can be restored in the region.

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On the technology leading front, India has been on the global IT and services engineering and re-engineering map for quite some time now, helping governments and organizations worldwide implement science and technology driven solutions for bettering their citizen services, utility operations and weather forecasts.Hence, India’s IT prowess is quite well known and India’s IT companies take pride in technology implementation and innovation. Additionally India has an impressive set of Remote Sensing Satellites in the world and there are many times when other countries take help from India when it comes to placing their satellites on the orbit. However, all this has not helped us in any way to be able to save lives. Lack of better disaster management capabilities are to be blamed here.

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Safer Construction PracticesIntroduction

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Current ScenarioUnabated expansion of hydro-power projects and construction of roads to accommodate ever-increasing tourism, especially religious tourism, are also major causes for the unprecedented scale of devastation.

Threat from damsThe Ganga in the upper reaches has been an engineer’s playground. The Central Electricity Authority and the Uttarakhand power department have estimated the river’s hydroelectric potential at some 9,000 MW and have planned 70-odd projects on its tributaries. 

Roads destabilising mountains In 2005-06, 83,000-odd vehicles were registered in the state. The figure rose to nearly 180,000 in 2012-13. Out of this, proportion of cars, jeeps and taxis, which are the most preferred means of transport for tourists landing in the state, increased the most. In 2005-06, 4,000 such vehicles were registered, which jumped to 40,000 in 2012-13. It is an established fact that there is a straight co-relation between tourism increase and higher incidence of landslides.

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