What happened in Kedarnath Floods, and Rest of Uttarakhand, in 2013? Out of any accidents, one of the worst is the wrath of Nature. No matter what form it is in.
In the year of 2013, the Kedarnath floods could be well established as a disaster that maybe no one ever thought of in their wildest dreams.
Remembering 2013 Kedarnath Floods:
On June 17th in the year 2013, Uttarakhand experienced the wrath of Mother Nature in the form of the Kedarnath floods that overflowed from the banks of the Chorabari lake. The amount of destruction it carried in along with it is absolutely incomparable to any other.
The Kedarnath flood is not going to leave our memories anytime soon.
History of the Kedarnath floods:
Uttarakhand has always been a flood-prone area. There is no doubt in the fact that though this area is always high on natural disaster list, yet the people constantly visit the place because of various reasons. Tourism is definitely one of the main features of the place.
With numerous warnings and stills no paying of heed, the Kedarnath tragedy was waiting to happen in 2013, if not sooner. The place is filled with pilgrim tourists. Pilgrim come down every year in millions to see the places of their gods.
Unfortunately, it also costs mother Nature in the form of cutting trees and making spaces for accommodations. There were many disasters in the year 1893, then 1968 and then 1970 respectively. Yet, it took a Chipko movement, to put sense into people in order to convince them from not cutting the trees.
So what had happened?
The Chorabari lake is known for the beautiful glacier. Unfortunately, Uttarakhand had experienced an enormous amount of rainfall from the 13th to that of the 17th of June in 2013. What followed, is a disaster in the form of the Kedarnath flood story.
Of course, the rains melted the glacier and not being able to contain an overwhelming amount of water from the melted glacier, the Mandakini river flooded the entire valley. Not only Uttarakhand but an enormous region of Nepal and also Himachal Pradesh was affected.
Deaths and destruction had surrounded the areas thereafter. For days, things were in the most pathetic conditions that one could ever imagine. The landslides had followed the suit making it difficult for the livelihood to sustain. The Kedarnath flood pics took no time to circulate through the social media and it caused tension and fear that people could hardly imagine of.
The most affected area was the pilgrimage area of Kedarnath. The deaths in the valley had surpassed the number of 5000. The losses didn’t only come in the life form but the monetary loss was overwhelming as well.
Around $285 million could be easily accounted for the roads and the bridges that were destructed. There were dam projects that were almost worth as $ 30 million and were lost in the floods. Also, the state saw a loss in the tourism revenue that was somewhere around $195 million.
But what was the actual cause of the flood?
It is pretty natural for Uttarakhand to experience heavy rainfalls. Also, there are ought to be floods as well as landslides. Unfortunately, according to experts no matter whatever the situation was, the 2013 floods were brought on by the people themselves. In short, it could be easily claimed as a manmade Kedarnath disaster.
Almost everything in Uttarakhand is unorganized as well as unplanned. There is no proper construction and most of the lands are devoid of the trees due to an excess of tourism. The increase in mining was also tremendous. There was nothing in the soil left to hold the waters out.
The damages that could have been otherwise controlled, were not! The reason was very simple. Nature was not residing there anymore. The network of unplanned and irrelevant roads also worked as a fuel to the fire. The enormous construction going on in the mountains for years took a toll on it.
Unfortunately, everything falling apart already, the rainfalls and the enormous amount of it added to the woes. Unfortunately, the pilgrims visiting the place caused the evacuation process to slow down by leaps and bounds, increasing the numbers to the dead bodies and the disasters.
The relief work was massive In Kedarnath floods:
There were almost all the defense systems that were busy with the relief work. The army, as well as the air force and also the navy, came together to help. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) the Border Security Force the National Disaster Response Force the Public Works Department and not to forget the local administration also worked quite well.
There were more than 10000 soldiers working in the rescue operation. There were areas from where rescue seemed impossible. Yet the forces managed to rescue more than 33000 people from those areas.
The site of the Kedarnath floods before and after day traumatized many people. Nevertheless, Kedarnath in 2018 is much more of a safe place to visit. Yet, the government should work on the mistakes that they had done earlier. This will have chances of better protection even in the times of humongous floods.