Filters
-
Rudraprayag (D)
Human activities increasing risk of calamities: Study
Increasing human activities are augmenting the risk of natural disasters in the ecologically sensitive region of Kedarnath, which was washed away by the floods triggered by a cloudburst in June, a latest study claims. A team of scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology has warned that a rise …
Heavy rains and cloudburst kill 8 in Uttarakhand, Almora SDM goes missing
Four members of a family were killed, while five others, including SDM of Almora district, were feared dead in rain-related incidents as heavy showers lashed Uttarakhand on Wednesday, causing fresh landslips, damaging roads and sweeping away a number of homes. Almora SDM Ajay Arora slipped off the makeshift bridge and …
Power projects need a closer look’
The jury is still out on whether the existing and under construction hydro-power projects in Uttarakhand exacerbated the impact of floods there, but a group of environmentalists claim that the projects have had an adverse impact on the environment. They have written to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests …
Clueless on Calamity
On June 16, an orbiting Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) meteorological satellite captured imagery of dense cloud formation building over Uttarakhand. An analysis of the imagery uploaded on an isro website the following day predicted 'extreme rainfall/cloudburst' and marked 11 places in Uttarakhand in red. Barkot, Kirtinagar, Munikireti, Narendranagar, Pauri, …
Uttarakhand to raise disaster response force battalion
The Uttarakhand Government on Monday decided to raise a battalion of the State Disaster Response Force on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force. Announcing this here the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said the SDRF would comprise of volunteers below the age of 40 from the PAC and other …
Wet and witless
A farmer from Indore, Gabbu Singh went to Kedarnath as part of a group of 50 people. Only seven have managed to survive the disaster. “The Mandakani's killer currents took 30 of them,” he says. “The remaining 13 are still untraceable.” According to Gabbu and his friend Anil Sisodia, even …
Uttarakhand: A model of disaster
On the afternoon of 16 June, local resident Manav Bisht watched dozens of constables leaving the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Academy, which stood between his house in Shakti Vihar, a locality in Uttarakhand’s Srinagar town, and the Alaknanda river that had started swelling from 10 am. The waters threatened …
Shifting Dhari Devi's shrine near Srinagar blamed for flood tragedy
As people have struggled to come to terms with the scale of devastation and loss of lives in the flash floods last month, a number of faith-based explanations have taken root in this land fertile with legend and lore. The Garhwal Himalayas have a disproportionate share of spirituality and mysticism-it …
Deaths in Uttarkhand tragedy could've been prevented: Uma Bharti
Loss of lives in the Uttarakhand tragedy was a result of 'human error' which could have been averted if some steps had been taken in time, BJP vice president Uma Bharti said today. "I feel that because of the heavy rains, floods could not have been avoided. However, the sad …
A bend in the river
Do we not know the magnitude of the havoc rains wreak across India season after season? So why are we behaving like we were dealing with something alien and unpredictable? So now we have an infuriated Goddess Ganga as an alibi. That conveniently lets off all those scoundrels responsible for …