The scientists, however, say it is difficult to comment right now if climate change has been directly responsible for the February 7 catastrophic that washed away two upcoming hydropower stations.
Absence of an Early Warning System Cost Many Lives at Joshimath
Lessons from the 2013 Kedarnath tragedy were never learnt, and the state only got its first Doppler radar in 2020.
Members of Indo-Tibetan Border Police watch as a machine is used to clear a tunnel after the flood, in Tapovan, Uttarakhand, February 8, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Stringer
Government10/Feb/2021
New Delhi: As a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Joshimath, in Chamoli district, and hurtled downstream on the Dhauli Ganga, towards the Tapovan hydroelectric power project, some people idling under the Sunday sun in the mountains above first spotted the huge column of debris approaching and alerted workers at the site below with shouts and whistles.
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Flash floods wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand s Chamoli district on February 7.
For the last three days, family members of around 40 workers missing from the Rishiganga hydel project site visit the rescue site daily hoping for a miracle and hear some good news about their dear ones. With pain and agony writ large on their face, the family members blame the authorities for not doing enough to trace the missing people.Â
A multi-agency rescue work, involving teams from Army, NDRF, SDRF, is underway since Sunday, February 7, when the sudden flood in the Alaknanda river system wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand. However, kin of those missing are not satisfied.
Updated Feb 10, 2021 | 12:09 IST
During a secret expedition to the Nanda Devi mountain, a joint Indian and American team had left behind a nuclear-powered device after being caught in a blizzard. The device was never found. Uttarakhand glacier disaster | Photo Credit: AP
Dehradun: Days after the Uttarakhand glacier burst disaster in Chamoli district which left scores dead and more than a hundred missing, local villagers have expressed concerns that the tragedy could have been triggered by a plutonium radioactive device which was lost way back in 1965 during a classified expedition to the Nanda Devi mountain.
A report quoted the people of Rani village in Tapovan area as saying that on Sunday, when flash floods occurred in the area after muck and rubble rolled down from the Nanda Devi mountain into the Rishiganga river following a glacier break, they noticed a pungent smell in the air.
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Warning System, Glacier Studies: Glaciologists Suggest Ways to Address Uttarakhand-like Tragedies
A view of damaged dam after the Nanda Devi glacier broke and crashed into the dam in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand on February 7, 2021. (REUTERS)
Glaciologists pointed out that to be better prepared for the kind of calamity that happened in Uttarakhand recently, what we need to do urgently is to start mapping the hazard and vulnerable areas where the possibilities of GLOF and landslides are higher.
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While the investigation is ongoing to ascertain the cause of flash flood in Uttarakhand s Chamoli district, it is being suspected that either an avalanche or a glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) was responsible for it. So far, 31 deaths have been reported due to the natural calamity which took place on Sunday, and media reports claim that 170 people are still missing.