Uttarakhand Landslide (June, 2013).pptx

It is a presentation on Uttarakhand land slide and cloud burst happaned in 2013. It includes it reason of this happening, What happen, why happen, consicuenses and lessons which we can learn from it.

1. Uttarakhand Landslide (June, 2013) By Manan Singhal (03419012021) And Pratik Agarwal (03519012021)

2. Content:- Cause. Reason. Impact. Lesson.

3. Landslide:- It is basically a rapid downslope movement of soil and rock due to gravitational pull and heavy rain.

4. Cause :- Heavy rainfall and flow of water cause the mealting of charabari Glacier which results to the over flow of waters in the downward direction and cause flood in reavers.

5. Due to building of dams on the way of Mandakini river and Alakhnanda river, they gradually abandand their old coure and shifter their alignment. Over a period of time, several shops, hotels and resorts came up on these dry beds. On that fathful day when Alakhnanda and Mandakini erupted, the overflow from both the rivers and both once again started flowing along their respective old course. The consequence were Disaster.

6. (Reasons) Deforestation :- Approx 45,000 hactares of forestland has been diverted to non-forest in Uttarkhand since 1980. Of this 9,500 hactares has been diverted for construction of roads, 5,500 hactares for hydropower plants and 3,100 hactares for transmission lines. 68% of the deforestation had tooked place after the formation of the state in November 2000.

7. Under the forest act (1980), a project developer is supposed to plant trees in a non forest area equal to the forest area it is clearing, to compensate for forest loss. However, compensatory afforestation seems to be ineffective in the state as only 12% of this has been achieved so far. This has disturbed the ecological balance of the hills leading to huge soil erosion, and soil movement.

8. Soil Erosion :- About 88% of area experience soil erosion. The soil erosion results to rise in temperature. Further affect the health of the near by forest and thus make eco-system of state more unstable.

9. Impacts:- The landslide cause a great loss to human life and properties in area. Several houses, shops, hotels around the kedarnath township were destroyed. The roads connecting the hills were severaly damaged affecting the rescue operation in the area.

10. Thousands of tourists were found without food, water and shelter. Thousands of human lives were lost and their bodies washed away in this natural disaster. Around 608 villages covering a population of 7 lakh peoples in 23 districts were affected by the flood.

11. Lessons :- Excessive mining on the river banks and indiscriminative construction of hydropower projects gave way to this disaster. A proper assessment is needed to be taken before initializing new projects in such eco-sensitive areas, hills deeper then(2000 m). Further exploitation of forest, water and minerals to develop infrastructure, led to this disaster.

12. The real estate business on the hills led to increased mining in hills. The state need to take concrete steps to preserve the natural cover and need to be more conscious with granting permission to built hotels and other structures. The forest act is needed to be imposed more strictly so that further soil erosion could be stopped and eco-system could become more stable.

13. Conclusion :- Hence, the main lesson which one can learn from this disaster is that the exploitation of natural resources which in the long run has a destructive effect on the environment. A proper and effective operational ‘Disaster Management System’ can go for a long way with saving hundreds of life and property when such a disaster strikes.

14. Thank you