The recent helicopter crash in Uttarakhand Sunday, on June 15, makes it the fifth one since Kedarnath Dham opened on May 2 for the annual Char Dham Yatra.
All the seven people on board, including a 10-year-old child, are reportedly dead. They were en route from the holy shrine of Kedarnath to Guptkashi in Rudraprayag district of the Himalayan state.
Further, landslides near Junglechatti and Bhimbali damaged the trekking route, blocking the movement of pilgrims from Sonprayag to Kedarnath. One person has reportedly died.
The eco-fragile hill state of Uttarakhand is a sitting duck as far as environmental disasters go. It falls in a high risk seismic zone, and is prone to landslides and flash floods, borne out by several studies in the past.
Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall due to climate change are adding to the state’s precarious position, as glaciers in its upper reaches are rapidly melting, posing a serious threat of glacial lake outburst floods, or GLOFs as they are commonly called.
Recipe for a disaster
Over 85 per cent of the total 13 districts in Uttarakhand, which are home to over 9 million people, are hotspots of extreme floods and its associated events, according to an independent analysis by New Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), released in 2021.
A more recent study this month has identified 22.36 per cent of the state as “high to very high multi-hazard risk zones” — seismic, landslide, and flood risks with socio-economic vulnerabilities. The study points to the Tehri Garhwal and Rudraprayag (Kedarnath is located here) districts as being the most vulnerable to multi-hazard risks.
Another scientific paper, published last month in the Journal of the Geological Society of India, has warned that the area of glacial lakes in all the ten river basins in Uttarakhand has increased significantly.
Researchers used high resolution satellite imagery to map glacier lake changes in the state between 2013 and 2023, and found that the number of such lakes has increased by 1.9 per cent, while the area covered by them has increased by 8.1 per cent.
This rise in the area of glacial lakes is attributed to rising temperatures in the region over the past few decades. The number of glacier erosion lakes and moraine-dammed lakes has increased, while the area of supraglacial lakes decreased, informs the study.
The maximum number of glacier lakes were found in the Chamoli district, followed by Uttarkashi. Researchers have recommended field surveys and further investigations using high-resolution satellite data to understand the potential hazards posed by these lakes to infrastructure and human lives.
The Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, situated in Doon Valley, Uttarakhand, has been identifying potential risk zones for GLOFs in Uttarakhand and developing an advanced warning system for glacial hazards. One of its studies has identified the Alaknanda-Dhauliganga-Rishiganga, a tectonically-active basin, as a priority area due to the 29 existing hydropower projects, in various stages of completion, in addition to 54 proposed plans.
Scientists are also stressing on the urgency of setting up a dedicated glaciological centre in the region, keeping in mind its climate vulnerability and risk of massive flash floods.
Déjà vu
Remember the floods — caused by extremely heavy rainfall and the bursting of Chorabari glacial lake near Kedarnath — that hit Uttarakhand exactly 12 years ago, on June 16-17, in 2013? Over 6,000 people, mostly pilgrims, lost their lives.
Kiren Rijiju who was at the time Minister of State for Home Affairs, had called the Kerdarnath floods “the worst disaster in living memory resulting in huge loss to lives and widespread destruction of infrastructure”. He had also pointed out the shortfall in the “collective preparedness against disasters”.
Yet, there has been no significant course correction taken to safeguard either the environment or the people of the state. There has only been talk of climate resilient infrastructure, not much action.
Five years ago, in February 2021, flash floods devastated Chamoli district because of a massive rock and ice avalanche. More than 200 people were killed or are ‘missing’, while two hydropower projects were “severely damaged”.
Scientists had issued warnings that “the sequence of events highlights the increasing risk in the Himalayas caused by increased warming and development… key questions about adequate monitoring and sustainable development in the Himalaya as well as other remote, high-mountain environments.”
As per news reports, between 2015 and 2023, close to 300 people died in the state due to landslides. It is ominous that over 1,100 landslide incidents occurred in 2023 alone. In 2022 the number was 245, and the previous year in 2021 the number of landslide incidents was 354.
Dismissing these disasters as a consequence of ‘Nature’s fury’ or ‘God’s act’ is a feeble attempt to shift the blame. According to the 2021 CEEW analysis “in the last 20 years, Uttarakhand has lost more than 50,000 hectares of forest cover, leading to micro climatic changes in the region. This in turn has triggered a rise in extreme climate events in the state.”
The CEEW analysis also highlighted that droughts had increased two-fold in Uttarakhand since 1970 and more than 69 per cent of districts in the state were vulnerable to it. Also, in the last decade, floods and drought occurred simultaneously in the districts of Almora, Nainital, and Pithoragarh. This further complicates risk-informed decision making for policymakers and response teams.
Regulating the Char Dham Yatra
State level environmental activists have been loudly demanding the number of Char Dham Yatra pilgrims be regulated because of the eco-fragile nature of the region.
Last December, Dehradun-based Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation, headed by Anoop Nautiyal, released an assessment report of Char Dham Yatra 2024, which emphasised the need to regulate the number of pilgrims and conduct a scientific carrying-capacity study. The report dwelt on the overcrowding and environmental degradation along the Yatra routes.
At the launch of the report, Nautiyal spoke about the violation of the carrying-capacity principles in the management of the Yatra. He expressed concerns about the deteriorating disaster-management situation along the Yatra route. He emphasised the urgent need for the state government to take immediate steps to build resilience into the Yatra’s infrastructure and planning. He said it was of utmost importance to work on the long-term sustainability and effective management of the Char Dham Yatra.
The five helicopter accidents since the start of Char Dham Yatra this year alone expose the chinks in the government’s armour. Rapid rather than well-considered infrastructure development, and an increased interference of human population is jeopardising the lives of pilgrims and the ecology of the hills.
If the hills collapse, can we survive?
Have you liked the news article?