Wednesday, 02 June 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Considering cloudbursts in May, USAC director fears larger disaster could hit Alaknanda valley during monsoon
There were at least half a dozen incidents of cloudbursts or heavy rain in the State during the month of May. These instances resulted in considerable damage to buildings and livestock. Considering this and factors like unplanned constructions and other risk factors, Uttarakhand Space Application Centre (USAC) director Mahendra Pratap Singh Bisht said that he fears a disaster could strike the Alaknanda valley during the monsoon season.
There were incidents of cloudbursts of heavy rains in Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Tehri, Chamoli and Nainital districts during the month of May. Considering this and factors on the ground, the USAC director fears that something bad could happen during the monsoons in the Alaknanda valley. According to Bisht, who is a geologist who has been working on the terrain of Uttarakhand for nearly four decades, climatic episodes like heavy rains act as accelerators which fuel and enhance other processes. In Uttarakhand, unplanned constructions and encroachments exacerbate the disaster risk to humans from heavy rains. He states, “Many villages in the mountainous regions of Uttarakhand are built on landslide debris or sediments in floodplains. So basically, such villages are built on unstable ground. Factors like traditional knowledge of the elders prevented people from settling in such places in the old days but this is not the case now. Encroachments also pose another problem. For example, Srinagar has about 22 nullahs and all of these have been encroached upon. Following heavy rains in 2010, all these nullahs were activated. Some people also laid pillars in the river to construct buildings in other places.”
Regarding information about such vulnerable sites, Bisht says that the government has been collecting such data since 1970 when this region was part of undivided Uttar Pradesh. “What we need is effective action focusing on both societal and geological factors to prevent major damage from extreme weather incidents. The government should follow building codes like they do in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. Public awareness should be raised to make the people relocate from villages settled on unstable land. Considering how disaster prone Uttarakhand is, aspects of disaster management and glaciology should also be taught in schools. Awareness needs to be raised from the grassroots level up to the ministerial level on geographical and other aspects so that the necessary measures are taken on time,” he opined.
