Earth Watch Report - Flooding
| 25.06.2013 | Flash Flood | India | State of Uttarakhand , Uttarkashi |  |  |
Flash Flood in India on Monday, 17 June, 2013 at 07:30 (07:30 AM) UTC.
Back| Updated: | Saturday, 22 June, 2013 at 14:58 UTC |
| Description | |
| Operations to save tens of thousands of people stranded in rain-stricken northern India continue as the death toll from flash floods and landslides has neared 600. Relief teams were racing against time on Saturday with scores of bodies recovered from the raging Ganges river. According to officials, around 63,000 people, including pilgrims and tourists, are still stuck or missing after torrential monsoon rains hit the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Houses, buildings and entire villages have been swept away by swollen rivers which have also destroyed bridges and narrowed roads that lead to towns in the mountainous state. "575 bodies have been recovered so far but the toll is likely to go up. As per our records, 62,790 people are still stranded," AFP quoted Uttarakhand home secretary Om Prakash as saying on Saturday. Prakash added that a team of doctors and officials was sent to the Hindu pilgrimage site of Kedarnath "to collect the bodies lying there." This comes as dozens of helicopters and thousands of soldiers have been dispatched to save the trapped people. Rescue teams are preparing for more challenges as the state and parts of central India are expected to receive further downpours from Sunday onwards. The Indian Express has said that with bad weather expected from Sunday night, rescuers have a "narrow window of just 48 hours" to finish their operations. "This kind of disaster has never happened in Himalayan history," state Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said on June 21. Meanwhile, floods and landslides from monsoon rains have also hit neighboring Nepal, killing at least 39 people, the Nepalese government said. | |
Flash Flood in India on Monday, 17 June, 2013 at 07:30 (07:30 AM) UTC.
Back| Updated: | Saturday, 22 June, 2013 at 17:18 UTC |
| Description | |
| As
many as 600 people have been killed and hundreds still missing in
monsoon floods which swept through the northern Indian state of
Uttarakhand last Sunday, triggering landslides and washing away several
towns and roads, a government official said Saturday. The death toll is
expected to rise once more dead bodies are recovered from the slush and
mud lying everywhere across the hilly state, he said, adding that
disaster management teams, comprising Indian Army, Indian Air Force and
para-military troopers, have been trying their best to rescue people,
mostly Hindu pilgrims, who are still stranded in the difficult terrain
of the hilly state. Indian Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who
visited the flood- hit areas of the state this morning, said that some
73,000 people have been taken to safety so far and an additional 30,000
to 32, 000 still stranded. "We are hopeful of evacuating all people in
the next two days," he told the media. Some 17 foreign tourists are
among those who have been air- lifted to safety this morning, the
official said, adding that the next two days will be crucial for rescue
work as the weather office has predicted that heavy rains may again lash
the flood-hit state. "The rescuers, led by the Indian Army, are racing against time to rescue as many people as possible, still stranded in the hilly terrain. Many people have already died due to hunger and illness. Indian Army road engineers have been pressed into service to build bridges swept away in the floods," he added. Local TV channels showed footage of Indian Army and Indian Air Force choppers air lifting people, including aged pilgrims, who are stranded in upper reaches of the state, including the pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, without adequate supply of food and water. Flood survivors were evacuated to state capital Dehradun which has also been made the base for the relief effort, from where rescue workers, medicines and food are being flown to the flood- hit areas. Many of the survivors have been recounting the horror stories to TV channels, with some saying that they saw rocks and boulders, as big as cars, hitting those killed in the flash floods in the hilly terrain. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced a 10 billion rupees (170 million U.S. dollars) relief package for the state. The monsoon arrives in India in June end and stays till September. But, this year, the weather office says that the showers came a fortnight ahead of schedule. Moreover, the rains in Uttarakhand is said to be the heaviest in 60 years. | |
Flash Flood in India on Monday, 17 June, 2013 at 07:30 (07:30 AM) UTC.
Back| Updated: | Sunday, 23 June, 2013 at 03:51 UTC |
| Description | |
| Floods
and landslides, caused by heavier-than-usual monsoon rains, left
pilgrims and tourists trapped this week, mostly in Uttarakhand. Updated
official numbers were not available but media reports estimated the
number of dead to exceed 1,000. "More than 33,000 pilgrims and tourists
have been evacuated to safer places," Manish Tewari, Minister for
Information and Broadcasting, told a news conference on Friday. Special
trains have been arranged to transport stranded passengers for free,
Tewari said. Television reports said a rescue helicopter crashed in
Uttarakhand on Friday evening. No casualties were reported. People
remained stranded in some areas as flood waters and blocked roads made
it difficult for rescue teams to reach them. Some survivors told NDTV
news channel that they had no food for five days. Thousands of pilgrims
and tourists had been trapped by the floods while visiting popular Hindu
shrines in the region. An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) official
told reporters on Friday most of the people stranded would be evacuated
in a couple of days. Internet search engine Google launched a version of its Person Finder app on Thursday to help people track missing relatives in the region. In newspaper advertisements on Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought public help for disaster aid, appealing for generous donations to his National Relief Fund. Singh had announced a 10-billion-rupee aid package for the state on Wednesday after he and Congress president Sonia Gandhi did an aerial survey of the flood-hit region. Media reports said Gandhi had asked Congress party lawmakers to donate a month's salary for relief efforts. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is expected to visit the state on Saturday. Monsoon rains could ease soon after hitting 89 percent over averages in the week to June 19, according to weather office sources, in a third straight week of downpours. This year's monsoon has drenched the country in record time, almost a month ahead of schedule. | |
Flash Flood in India on Monday, 17 June, 2013 at 07:30 (07:30 AM) UTC.
Back| Updated: | Tuesday, 25 June, 2013 at 02:58 UTC |
| Description | |
| More
than a week after it was hit by devastating flash floods and torrential
rains, the critical phase of rescue operations in Uttarakhand seems to
be over, with the focus now shifting to the evacuation of survivors
stranded at temporary relief camps that have been been set up at several
locations. While the massive air effort - the biggest for humanitarian
aid by the armed forces - will continue over the next few days despite
the bad weather that has hit the region, those coordinating operations
say that intense rescue efforts over the past three days have paid off
with all survivors being brought to camps that have food, water and
medical stocks. An estimated 6,500 people are now at these camps and are
being airlifted or evacuated as the weather permits. "Four days ago, it was a very gloomy picture. That was the time we were getting into the interiors and finding utter devastation. We had no idea how many had survived or died and where all the survivors were. Today, we have been able to pull out all the stranded people and have brought them to our temporary camps from where they are being evacuated in a coordinated manner," Lt Gen N S Bawa, General Officer Commanding, Uttar Bharat Area, who has been coordinating rescue and relief operations, told The Indian Express. Though air operations in most sectors except the Dharashu-Harsil axis were affected due to the bad weather on Monday, the officer said the flights would continue to either drop supplies or evacuate the estimated 6,500 persons who are currently stranded at the various relief camps. "Today there is a lot of confidence that the situation has been brought well under control. However, there are still more that 2,000 people stuck between Harsil and Uttarkashi and approximately 4,500 at Badrinath," said Lt Gen Bawa, adding that over 1,000 people are likely to be evacuated from Badrinath to Joshimath by Monday evening, a large majority of them on foot, after the Army constructed temporary bridges and ropeways across cut-off areas. "We are encouraging all able-bodied people to come by foot so that the air operations are directed only towards the sick and the elderly. Our teams are accompanying survivors across the difficult terrain," said Lt Gen Bawa. | |
Were India's floods caused by reckless human greed?
Cataclysmic floods in the northern state of Uttarakhand are reminder India must act to save its fragile mountains
A
new Shiva statue being washed away in Rishikesh, Haridwar in
Uttarakhand, India, during floods on 20 Jun 2013. Photograph: Indian
Photo Agency/Rex Features
At last count, 5000 people are feared killed, and the number is expected to rise further. More than 33,000 people have been rescued in an amazing effort by the Indian army, but an estimated 19,000 victims are still stranded.
On the face of it, the floods seem like a calamity that was unpreventable. The Indian meterological department reported a record rainfall of 385 mm during the first few weeks of June, which is 440 per cent over the usual rainfall. But green groups say that while a cloudburst may have been the immediate cause of floods, the region has been slowly eroded by rampant development. Too many roads, hotels and buildings have caused the valley to collapse like a stack of dominoes.
The government is blaming a massive "tsunami", but this easy blame masks its criminal neglect of disaster systems and history of ignoring danger signs. A report released by the Comptroller and Auditor General in April 2013 revealed that the State Disaster Management Authority has never met, has received no funds, and has framed no plan to cope with disaster, despite a series of deadly landslides over the past few years.
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