UttaraKhand Reconstruction Thread-2013

[ramana]

After the recent devastating floods in UttaraKhand the immediate rescue efforts are now at an end. The empahsis is on reconstruction and rehabiliation. With that in mind and not to overwhelm the National Disaster thread I am opeing this to track the R&R effort in Uttara Khand.

WB and ADB teams to visit UttaraKhand

WB and ADB teams to visit UttaraKhand

Though the Centre and State Government failed to release an estimated death toll, more than 3,000 missing persons’ complaints have been lodged in Uttarakhand so far.

The Prime Minister is expected to enhance the relief package to Rs3,000 crore from Rs1,000 crore announced earlier. For this, teams from Union Finance Ministry, World Bank and Asian Development Bank are slated to visit the State to assess the damage.

The State Cabinet on Monday approved the formation of Uttarakhand Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (URRA) to oversee all reconstruction and rehabilitation works. The Cabinet also decided to ban construction on river banks.

Apart from this various decisions were taken by the Central and State Governments to rebuild Uttarakhand and rehabilitate the affected people. These measures were announced by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and State Congress in-charge Ambika Soni in Dehradun on Monday.

Speaking to the newspersons, the Chief Minister lauded the people of Uttarakhand for their courage and support to the stranded tourists. “More than one lakh stranded people have been evacuated. The death toll is a serious issue and while the armed forces personnel reported seeing 500-600 bodies, so far 3,068 missing persons’ complaints have been lodged in the State. We cannot simply release an estimated toll as there are certain regulations to be followed before declaring a person dead,” said Bahuguna.

The formation of URRA by statute is aimed at ensuring the desired level of reconstruction and development as we are planning to rebuild the State with the next 100 years in view, he added.

Addressing the media, Jairam Ramesh said that the URRA will help instill public faith in the Government by ensuring transparency in the utilisation of funds for disaster relief and reconstruction works while also looking into geological, environmental and various other aspects in execution of the works.

Jairam Ramesh also said that the relief package to Uttarakhand is also expected to increase to about Rs3,000 crore with officials of Finance Ministry, World Bank and ADB arriving here to assess the damage.

“I have agreed to the CM’s demand for increasing the job guarantee period under MNREGA from 100 to 150 days in the disaster-affected areas apart from which we have also asked the State to submit a revised labour budget which if approved may increase Uttarakhand’s MNREGA budget for 2013-14 from Rs450 crore to about Rs700 crore,” he said.

New Agency to revive UttaraKahnd

New agency to revive flood-hit Uttarakhand: Bahuguna

Monday, 01 July 2013 | IANS | Dehradun

Announcing measures for the revival of Uttarakhand after last month's devastating flood, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna Monday said a new agency will be created for the task.


"An Uttarakhand rehabilitation and reconstruction authority will be established to decide planning and development of the state," Bahuguna said addressing a press conference here.

He said the government would be providing free rations to all those affected by the flood and villages which have been cut-off due to roads being washed away will receive supplies for a month.

He also thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for "staying in touch with us and promising all assistance from the Centre".

Releif from Punjab

Punjab to send relief material to UK

Punjab to send relief material to U’khand
Tuesday, 02 July 2013 | Pioneer News Service | Chandigarh

Expressing solidarity with Uttarakhand Government and the people who have been rendered homeless due to devastating floods, Punjab Government on Monday decided to send relief materials for the victims.

As per the decision, the State Government would send 10,000 tonnes of atta and rice, 100 tonnes of sugar and 10,000 blankets, shawls and sweaters for the victims.

Besides, it has also been decided to construct dwelling units in 25 villages for victims whose houses have been completely destroyed due to floods.

For the same, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has deputed Secretary and chief engineer of PWD (B &R) to work out modalities and logistics with the Uttarakhand Government.

Badal, reiterating his commitment towards the victims of flash floods, said that Punjab was committed towards providing succor to them at this hour of crisis. Chief Minister has also constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary with Financial Commissioner Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Principal Secretary to the CM, Principal Secretary Coordination, Secretary Food and Civil Supplies and Secretary PWD (B & R), as members to oversee the entire relief and rehabilitation operation.

Chief Minister has also appealed to the people of the State to donate generously for this noble cause as the Punjabis were known for magnanimity and sense of belongingness world over and called upon them to demonstrate their all pervasive spirit of charity.

Meanwhile, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon assured the CM that his department would leave no stone unturned in accomplishing this robust exercise with missionary zeal. He said his officials would coordinate with district administration for the dispatch of relief material.

Please do post pictures and reports of the extent of devastation and reports of R&R of Uttara Khand.

Thanks, ramana

[Vasu]

Updated: July 07, 2013, Uttarakhand: Hundreds of villages still cut-off, government to ask for all-weather choppers

With incessant rains over the last two days hampering relief operations in Uttarakhand, the state government today geared up to requisition choppers which can be flown even in bad weather to take food supplies to affected areas in Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts.

As the network of major roads in these districts are still damaged making it impossible for the administration to transport trucks carrying relief material to affected villages especially the ones totally cut off, weather resistant choppers are the only option left for the authorities to ensure food supplies to villages facing foodgrain shortage, an official said.

Around 400 people are still stranded in villages bordering Nepal and China, which remain cut-off. Relief material cannot be delivered in Munsiyari, Jauljibi, Balwakot, Tapovan areas of Dharchul as the roads here have been washed away.

[Murugan]

Shailesh Pandey ‏@shaileshkpandey 9h

I am repeating what I tweeted earlier .. People of Uttarakhand DON'T NEED money or Things .. YOU RESTORE CONNECTIVITY and they will take care of themselves .. Don't Kill the basic trait (hardwork) of these wonderful souls .. you will be crippling them for life.

India TV Team Has reached Rambara and showing right on their channel

[SaiK]

In massa, we have emergency management funds that is actually paid into by the gov.. actually it goes under many sub entities like conservation, architecture, etc.. India should have something similar setup. some amount of budget has to going for emergency response, construction, infrastructure, programs like exactly how conservation plans are implemented in massa. example: gov study determines, x% land needs to be conserved under some bio-diversity or env protection, then farmers are given monthly income like money for staying in the program, and not to convert their lands to illegal mining and poaching and destruction of evn resources.

We have ton to learn from massan setups.

[Bade]

The challenge will be to build all weather roads. Looking at images of the landslides on existing roads, building them back can only be a temporary measure.

If some of the settlements are old villages and also considering the access to border regions being equally a critical need for the forces, some form of tunneling will be required to deal with emergencies. How feasible is this in reality ?

[Bade]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 979496.cms

DEHRADUN: More than three weeks after flash floods and landslides wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand, over 760 villages still remain cut off with damaged roads and snapped power and telecommunication cables still to be restored.

"Out of 4200 worst affected villages, links have been re-established with 3431 villages. But 769 villages still remain dependent on chopper services for supply of essential items," chief secretary Subhash Kumar said on Monday. With rains grounding the choppers, supplies to these villages have been hit.

Kumar said the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway, extensively damaged by the recent deluge and landslides, is expected to be reopened for heavy traffic by September 30 while resuming traffic to Gaurikund on way to Kedarnath would take nearly four months.

"BRO personnel are trying to resume movement of light vehicles likes cars on the 290-km Rishikesh-Badrinath road by September 10 and heavy vehicles by September 30 as repair work is continuing on a war footing," Kumar said after returning from a tour of Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.

He said repairing the worst-hit 230-km Rishikesh-Kedarnath highway (up to Gaurikund) would take longer and the authorities had set October 30 as the deadline for now. "Only after roads to Badrinath and Kedarnath are restored, the question of resuming the 'char dham yatra' will arise," Kumar said.

Kumar said 1575 out of 1976 roads leading to most affected villages and hamlets in calamity-hit Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh districts, have been temporarily repaired to pave way of resumption of traffic. Work on the remaining 401 connecting roads is expected to be completed by July 13.

[Murugan]

Ahmedabad: Train with Rs 5 crore relief material leaves for Uttarakhand

http://www.niticentral.com/2013/07/10/a ... 01999.html

[ramana]

5360 still missing in Uttara Khand

The Uttarakhand government today put the number of missing people in last month's tragedy at 5360 and announced that pilgrimage to Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines will resume by September 30 even as fresh rains pounded several parts of the state and claimed 11 lives.

Seven members of a family were killed when the ceiling of their house collapsed in Dhikauna village in Chamoli district.

The incident took place in the wee hours when debris from the hillside including rocks and boulders hit the house under the impact of heavy overnight rains, Chamoli ADM Sanjay Kumar said.

In another incident, four persons were killed when a machine engaged in repairing a road fell into a ditch in Garhwal.

Meanwhile, the number of persons who went missing after the tragedy has risen to 5360 out of which 4560 are from states other than Uttarakhand and 800 from the hill state, the latest official estimate issued by the state government said.

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna earlier announced that pilgrimage to Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines will resume by September 30.

Bahuguna, who visited Guptkashi in Rudraprayag district, assured the flood-affected families that pilgrimage to the three dhams will resume by September 30 by which time the BRO hopes to restore the routes to these Himalayan shrines.

In Delhi, Road Minister Oscar Fernandes told PTI that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is working towards re-linking the state with the rest of the country and is hopeful of providing full connectivity to the Kedarnath shrine by September.

"The restoration work has started but there are stretches where the entire road has been washed out, where we have to build new roads. This may go beyond one or two months," he said.

[abhishek_sharma]

Inside the valley of death


The trekking path at Jungle Chatti is now all rubble. On the regular yatra trail, this stopover is a two-hour trek from Gaurikund. Now it takes much longer

[ramana]

Thoughtful Construction saved Kedarnath Temple

Thoughtful construction style will saved Kedarnath



BY DANFES, AGENCY

The thoughtful construction style of the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand saved the 11th century structure from any serious damage during last month's devastating floods, says an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) official, adding that a barrier would be constructed to protect the shrine from any future calamity.

"The safety of the structure despite this calamity is because of its orientation and style of construction. The domes of the temple are interlocked with each other using iron clamps; that is why they are intact. Only loose and cracked stones of the temple have come out," B.R. Mani, ASI additional director general, told IANS in an interview.

"Another rare aspect of this temple is its north-south orientation. Mostly temples face east or west. But this temple is facing south, which is a rare phenomenon. It may be possible that in the 11th century the people had thought of the stones rolling down from the north or any such calamity; hence they structured it like this," he added.

The 'Himalayan tsunami' last month killed hundreds of people and thousands are missing. Thousands of houses were uprooted, hundreds of bridges and roads washed away or destroyed in landslides and gushing rivers. Amidst this devastation, Mani says, on a scale of hundred the temple is 99 percent safe.

"Whatever we have seen in pictures is that a door of one of the 'mandaps' (canopy) has been broken, and on the back side of the temple a few stones have come out. On one side of the temple there was an Ishan temple -- it seems to have been washed away, as we can't see it in the photos," he added.

Standing majestically tall at an altitude of 3,969 metres above sea level, the Kedarnath temple has been built in the Rekha-Sikhara style with three different horizontal divisions. Despite the fact that the Kedarnath temple doesn't come under ASI-protected sites, due to the religious sentiments attached with this holy shrine, restoration has been entrusted to them.

A team had flown from the capital in June to chalk out a restoration plan after visiting the site, but due to inclement weather and no road connectivity, the team had to return. From whatever they could see from the photos and understand after reading the history of the temple, they have identified its vulnerable areas.

"We will be building a barrier on the sides of the temple. The mountain side makes it vulnerable to rocks and possible floods. The length of the wall would be such that the beautiful view of the valley is not obstructed," Mani said, adding the barrier will be similar to the Shore temple in Mahabalipuram.

"We had constructed a grand wall around the Shore temple to prevent the waves of the sea from coming into the temple premises. So we are planning a barrier like this to stop the rush of stones or boulders, if any," he explained.

Till the team visits the site physically, no budget estimation can be quoted for restoration, but the ASI would be focussing on bringing back its original glory.

A meeting with experts from conservation architectures to engineers along with help from the state government will be used in devising a plan for restoration.

"Conservation is a slow process. It is not rebuilding a structure but it is conserving the structure as per the original. For that we have to use the same material to keep it close to the original. We would also be using more iron than mortar," Mani pointed out.

"The first part of conservation is that a person would not be able to differentiate between what is new and the original. It is because the same set of materials is used and that allows to maintain the glorious past of our history," he added.

In India there are thousands of monuments, some of them are centrally protected, whereas some are under protection by private bodies or trusts. Mani feels all their efforts become helpless in the face of natural calamities like earthquakes. But, the ASI takes all precautions to maintain is what comes under their aegis.

Great article.

[vishvak]

North south orientation is because of Hindu understanding perhaps about Shankara as Dakshiñ-Murtee. There could be temple of Maataa-Raañee facing the north.

[chaanakya]

4,000 tonne foodgrain for Uttarakhand comes with a steep price tag

NEW DELHI: On June 21, four days after Uttarakhand's calamitous floods, the Centre sanctioned 4,000 tonnes of foodgrain for the stricken state. However, the seemingly generous handout came with a steep price tag - rice and wheat will be provided at an "economic" cost of Rs 26 and Rs 20 a kg.

At a time when Congress-led UPA is going gaga over its food security programme, promising to provide rice, wheat and coarse grain at Rs 3, 2 and 1 a kg, respectively, the charge levied on Uttarakhand seems unfeeling and an imposition.

Officials say the cost is bound by a 2000 Cabinet decision that economic costs will be levied, but this could easily have been got around by a fresh order dealing with the Uttarakhand situation.

The UPA government had in January allocated 25,800 tonnes of additional rice and wheat to UP government for distribution at the Kumbh Mela at rates applicable for below poverty line population — rice at Rs 5.65/kg and wheat at Rs 4.15/kg.

UP is not the only case where the UPA government made a concession. In fact, on June 12 the Centre allocated 3.27 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat to Maharashtra for drought relief at minimum support price (MSP) cost, which is almost half of the economic cost.

Even an earlier additional allocation made to Uttarakhand for the ill-fated Char Dham yatras was at an economic cost. The government had sanctioned 1,000 tonnes each of rice and wheat on June 7 for the pilgrims.

The food and consumer affairs ministry says there is nothing unusual about the cost levied as any additional allocation made to states has to be on economic cost. The exception in case of Maharashtra was due to a decision was taken by the Union Cabinet.

In case of Kumbh Mela relief, the BPL rate was applicable as 12 years ago the then government had taken a decision to subsidize the entire additional allocation.

"As per Cabinet's decision dated February 8, 2000, additional allocation for festivals and relief in case of natural calamities can be given at economic cost or open sale rates, whichever is less," said K Satish Nambudiripad, private secretary to the minister of state for food and consumer affairs.

He said Uttarakhand was allotted foodgrain at economic cost because the open market sale scheme was not in application when the special allocation was made.

SO NDA is responsible for the decision. What type of scoundrels Uttarakhand people have to endure and that we are enduring.

[ramana]

Yes they could waive the fees if they thought UK would vote for them next time after this massive failure to provide relief. Look a private secy ie a politcial appointee is making those statements about law and precedents! And how convienently the Minister's name is not mentioned in the news story.

Who is the MoS for whom this rule book guy works for?

Meanwhile Badrinath temple is under threat of floods:

[chaanakya]

^^Prof K.V. Thomas from Ernakulam, Independent Charge of the Ministry in 2011.

[SaiK]

following from that article ramana posted,..

The question would be, are we thoughtful enough to construct for future. We have to not only think about natural disasters (which beyond certain limits, humans can never construct to prevent an eventuality).. but definitely preventbale are human made disasters. How people abuse the facility and infrastructure. build constructions at places where it should be protected zones.

[chaanakya]

Uttarakhand: Debris removal at Kedarnath stalled

Over a month has passed since the worst-ever natural calamity hit Uttarakhand but the exercise of removing tonnes of debris lying at Kedarnath shrine which bore the brunt of the tragedy and the adjoining structures continues to be hampered due to lack of heavy equipment and bad weather.

A majority of the members of teams despatched to the high altitude shrine for the purpose have returned without making much headway due to incessant rains and lack of equipment needed to remove the huge volume of debris lying in the area.

"The combined team of doctors, PWD and NDRF men have not been able to dispose of any more bodies for the last three days. They disposed of two bodies four days back with all necessary rituals but there has been no disposal of bodies since then as proper removal of debris has not yet startedowing to bad weather and lack of heavy equipment," Uttarakhand DGP Satyavrat Bansal told PTI.

He said nothing can be done there until the debris is removed which is proving to be an onerous task amid inclement weather, which is making chopper operation impossible, damaged roads and lack of proper equipment.

[ramana]

They need something like this that can move around in narrow areas:

Bobcat Earthmover. there are versions form Toyota and Kubota etc....

[SaiK]

ramana, why can't you recommend indic products?

please select from here:
http://bemlindia.com/product_mc.php

[ramana]

Saik, A Bobcat is quite small and can be used in narrow confined spaces. The BEML products look like they are huge and wont fit the need to operate in confined spaces.

I am suggesting is to reduce dangerous drudgery only.

[ramana]

Frontline has an article by R. Ramacnadran on

Why Kedarnath Happened?

A scientific analysis of the reasons for the disaster that struck Uttarakhand, particularly the temple town. By R. RAMACHANDRAN

THE primary trigger for the Uttarakhand disaster following the very heavy rain during June 16-18 was the extremely unusual behaviour of the monsoon this year over north India. The incessant, heavy rainfall over three days, perhaps accompanied by a few cloudburst-type events (which cannot be confirmed), resulted in flash floods and associated landslides. The devastation all round in their wake has been huge but the largest impact has been at the temple town of Kedarnath, which was in the midst of the annual pilgrimage season, with tens of thousands of people thronging the town and the downstream region along the Mandakini river (Picture 1).

Rainfall measurements for June 16 and 17 at the Dehradun station, of 220 millimetres and 370 mm respectively, indicate the severity of the rain during these days in the region. Haridwar received 107 mm and 218 mm of rainfall on the two days. Uttarkashi received 122 mm and 207 mm. While Mukteshwar (altitude over 2,000 metres) received 237 mm and 183 mm respectively on June 17 and 18, Nainital on the same days received 176 mm and 170 mm. Though rainfall over a 24-hour period in different parts of Uttarakhand has greatly exceeded these figures in the past (on many occasions above 450-500 mm and once even 900 mm at Rajpur near Dehradun), prolonged heavy rainfall for nearly three days over a large area is perhaps unprecedented, and the cumulative effect, compounded by geophysical, meteorological and environmental factors, may be the reason for the enormity of the disaster.

More pertinently, these numbers do not give the actual quantitative picture of the very heavy rainfall in the higher reaches of the Himalayas (above 3,000 m) in Uttarakhand, where Kedarnath, Gangotri and Badrinath are located and where the impact has been most severe. This is because the rain gauge stations of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) are all located largely in the lower Himalayan reaches (below 2,000 m) and there are no stations in the higher reaches (above 3000 m). This is probably because snowfall data is regarded as more important than detailed rainfall data in these regions. As a result, there is no proper estimate of the rainfall in the affected regions.

What we have is a disaster which is a function of hazards, vulnerabilities and risk.

The hazards were: extreme rainfall, which does not drain the basin rapidly, leading to flash floods.

The vulnerabilites are: the landslides, flooding of the population centers, lack of transportation egress to shift the people in case of an emergency.

The effects are magnified by the inital slowness to comprehend the magnitude leading to many deaths.

The human costs were compounded by the large number of pilgrims at the time of the floods.

[svinayak]

Glacier melting and more rainfall is being studied in Himalayas in Nepal and Bhutan
There are TV programs and GON has invited experts form UK to do studies on od glacier ICE inside the top soil which could create overflooding on himalayan lakes
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 60,00.html

As Glaciers Melt, Bhutan Faces Increased Risk of 'Mountain Tsunamis'

By Julien Bouissou / Le Monde / Worldcrunch Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011

ADNAN ABIDI / REUTERS
Bhutanese walk in front of the Gankar Punsun glacier in Bhutan on Nov. 18, 2009. The kingdom's glaciers are melting, which is blamed on global warming

(THIMPU) — The Kingdom of Bhutan, tucked between India and China in the foothills of the Himalaya mountain range, is paying the price for global industrialization. Climate change is causing many Himalayan glaciers to melt in increasingly unstable ways, and there are concerns about the long term viability of the ice in a warmer world.

Water flows from these melting glaciers until it breaks the natural ice dams that hold it in place. That, in turn, can result in devastating floods like the one that occurred in 1994, when a torrent of mud killed dozens of people in Bhutan and wiped out entire villages. Western scientists call this phenomenon a glacial-lake-outburst flood, or GLOF. With 24 of its 2,674 glacial lakes considered unstable, Bhutan is preparing in the coming years for even deadlier "mountain tsunamis," as the phenomenon is sometimes referred to.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... z2bmJyB9gx

[svinayak]

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2010/06/14 ... l-problem/



Rainfall along with Glacier melt may create flash flood situation

[svinayak]

The Most Dangerous Lake in Nepal
Lake 464 - so newly formed by glacial melt that it doesn't even have a name - may be a glacial lake outburst flood waiting to happen. This clip from the film Outburst, still in production, shows why.


http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... _from.html

[ramana]

All those Himlayan studies are massa measures to advice India to stick to non-industrial growth. Soon they will say glaciers melting due to soot from thermal power plants in India. So buy Westinghouse.

[Bade]

From soot or not, warming trend is real. Apparently there were gaps found in the energy budget, by just considering the top ocean layer earlier. The latest study published says the temperatures of the deep layer in the oceans have gone up over the decade. So in a sense all that one hears is not fear mongering alone with assumed and inherent strategic biases.

[ramana]

Business Standard

Stage set for puja at Kedarnath Temple

After a hiatus of nearly 3 months, the portals of the historic Kedarnath temple, the epicenter of the June 16-17 deluge, would be reopened for puja with all vedic rituals tomorrow.

It will be the first time in the recent history that priests and other puja material had been flown to Kedarnath temple by choppers as all efforts to reconstruct the devastated 14 km long trek went in vain. And the puja will be held without the presence of pilgrims too for the first time.

A decision regarding the resumption of pilgrimage to Kedarnath shrine will be taken on September 30, Chief Minister VIjay Bahuguna said.

The Chief Minister will be among the dignitaries present at Kedarnath temple. The puja will begin with a yajna in the morning amid chanting of vedic hymns and other shalokas. “We have made all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the puja,” said DIG Garhwal Amit Sinha.

Just a day before the puja, which remained disrupted since June 16-17, a political controversy is also brewing up with a section of priests protesting against the government’s move to stop them from proceeding to the shrine area. The Rudraprayag district administration has put up restrictions at several areas to stop local people to proceed from alternate routes also.

Sensing its political ramifications, the BJP immediately jumped into the issue describing the puja as a “political drama” and demanding a white paper on the natural disaster that left hundreds of people dead. BJP leader and former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said he would lead a separate march to Kedarnath in protest against the restrictions being imposed by the Rudraprayag district authorities on local priests. “How can the government perform puja at Kedarnath temple without taking any help from local priests. The puja must be performed by the local priests only and the government should only work as a facilitator,” said Nishank

[krishnan]

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/uttarakhand- ... 3-243.html

New Delhi: It has been three months since floods ravaged Uttarakhand and CNN-IBN has now learned that compensation cheques have been dishonoured. More than a dozen compensation cheques given to victims of the Uttarakhand tragedy have bounced. While the state government claims it has enough funds, the bank account from which cheques have been issued reportedly has zero balance. "After the incident, the government gave me some relief through this money. But when I went to deposit the cheque they said the bank has no money and returned it," said a flood victim Radha Niwasi.

Read more at: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/uttarakhand- ... ef_article

[Murugan]

Amritanandamayi math plans Rs 50-crore Uttarakhand rehab project

http://newindianexpress.com/nation/Amri ... 778737.ece

[ramana]

Chandigarh Tribune Op-Ed by BG Verghhese

Re-visioning Uttarakhand
The cost of doing nothing can be crushing
by B.G. Verghese

THE memory of the Uttarakhand flood disaster is beginning to fade. But before it becomes just a blur the right lessons must be learnt and false or panic conclusions not be drawn. It was truly a natural disaster aggravated by manmade factors.

The coincidence of two atmospheric events focussed around the Kedarnath region caused a huge cloudburst bringing down over 330 mm of rainfall in a narrow Bhagirathi catchment. This, with preceding snowfall, caused the glacial lake west of the Kedarnath shrine to burst and the adjacent Chorabari Lake (or Gandhi Sagar) to its east, to overflow, causing a huge cascade of water and moraine to thunder down in a flood of immense intensity that swept everything before it. The structures flanking the gorge at the river's edge and flood plain undercut the saturated banks with an erosive fury that brought buildings and roads crashing down, a drama witnessed by millions on television screens. This was the prime location of the disaster though adjacent valleys were not spared similar punishment.

No dams or run-of-river hydro projects, complete or under construction, no industry or mine, nor reservoir induced seismicity was responsible. Deforestation played little or no role, nor the substitution of pine for oak as the disaster-formation area above Kedarnath was mainly beyond the tree line. And were it not for the Tehri dam, which had a large flood cushion early in the monsoon season, the lower Bhagirathi and Ganga below Dev Prayag would have been devastated. So much for the myths! The bar on sand mining may, however, have contributed to clogging the flood path of the river in critical patches, causing huge moraine boulders to chisel and hollow the hill side.

The manmade factors include unsustainable growth around ever-increasing religious tourism to the fragile "char dhams". For example, the number of pilgrims visiting Kedarnath rose to some 12,000 a day against a carrying capacity of perhaps a tenth of that figure. According to one estimate, the numbers visiting the char dhams rose to 1.3 million in a month. This unregulated surge has been commercially fostered over the years by reckless yatri promoters, resulting in unplanned urbanisation with multi-level structures wrongly sited, poorly aligned roads, thoughtless road widening, an increasing rush of pony/mule, palki, taxi and bus operators with wholly inadequate supporting services like water supply and sanitation or waste disposal or any hazard or vulnerability mapping, design certification or evacuation plan.

Meteorological observation stations were few. A sanctioned Doppler radar system (limited though its utility might have been in terms of warning time) was not installed, and the Disaster Management Authority, both at the State and Central levels, was caught unprepared and not meshed into the system. The glacial lakes were not seasonally monitored or punctured if necessary and burst and overflowed without warning. The Army and the Air Force conducted the most arduous and heroic search, rescue and supply operations, air-dropped food packets and rendered timely medical aid, relief and rehabilitation.

What is required now is a comprehensive disaster management plan in three phases: pre-disaster, R&R, and post-disaster. The entire region is located in seismic zones IV and V but the dam structures have been designed to withstand expected levels of shaking and floods with added safety margins. But all other buildings and structures must be similarly designed and retrofitted and roads remodelled and buttressed to prevent toe erosion by swirling rivers and slope failure. Some water projects under construction have dumped spoils and muck into the river. This is bad practice and rivers must be dredged to remove such obstructions and proper dumping sites provided for future disposal of spoils.

There will be a natural tendency to rebuild housing and other structure as before. This must be resisted as far as possible by providing temporary shelters for the forthcoming winter and preparing plans for newly designed urban facilities constructed to a better design for living.

Industries have been licensed at lower altitudes and are generating employment and must be encouraged to create more jobs. The present pattern of farming is unsustainable. Uttrakhand must follow Himachal in switching over to hill farming based on horticulture, vegetable cultivation, floriculture and herbiculture, with food security ensured from the plains.

Hydro power will provide the means of constructing a series of cold chains and first-stage processing units with ropeways and roads to bring down produce to larger processing hubs and mandis with refrigerated storage and market linkages. Religious tourism must be regulated by rationing accommodation and transport capacity, and the yatri season defined to minimise natural hazards. Eco-tourism must be fostered elsewhere in the lovely mountains with log cabins, treks, white water rafting, angling, bird watching and the like.

The retardation or banning of hydro-projects as a knee-jerk reaction would be retrograde. They did not cause the 2013 disaster. Problems of fragmentation of the rivers by successive run-of river projects can be avoided and minimum eco-flows of 10 per cent or more mandated. Fish ladders and fish ponds can be ensured and one per cent of the royalty being paid to projects must be devoted to local development. These apart, hydro projects may be required to contribute a certain fraction of their earnings for corporate social responsibility programmes designed and managed with stakeholder participation. Locals mostly want hydro development. It is the outsiders who object.

A study on the Cumulative Impact of Hydro Projects in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi Basins up to Dev Prayag, conducted by the Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, IIT, Roorkee, December 2011, by and large exonerated the current projects, commissioned or under construction, as having had a manifestly negative cumulative impact with regard to hydrology, river ecology, floods, glaciers, seismicity sedimentation, forests, bio-diversity, wild life and fish, religious tourism and livelihoods. Some negative features have been mentioned and corrective steps enumerated.

Trees are lost in land diverted for hydro projects and appurtenant works. In the case of 14 NHPC projects, commissioned or under construction across the Himalaya, 101,781 trees were lost by diversion of 2734 ha of land. But compensatory afforestation has covered 4334 ha of degraded or non-forest land and some 930,000 trees planted on them. In the case of the Dhauliganga project, the ratio of trees lost to trees planted was over 1:40, catchment area development bringing additional ecological benefits. Over space and time ecological losses are generally more than compensated by far.

The Roorkee IIT report has been critiqued by the Wild Life Institute of India, 2012 and certain other scholars but much of that criticism has been rebutted by the Institute A Bhagirathi-Bhilangna Basin Authority was set up a decade ago but remains dormant. A larger Ganga Basin authority up to Hardiwar and a Himalayan Commission have been advocated. These are worthy of consideration. As also climate change cooperation with ICIMOD, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.

Environmental activists and courts have over-reacted in barring hydro projects on the Upper Ganga, pending studies and reviews. Delay has meant denial or unsustainable cost-escalation in the past and this folly should not be repeated. As it is, normal procedural delays are enormous and highly onerous. Looking back at the Tehri experience, one can say that the critics were mistaken. Not to do something is a decision. And the cost of doing nothing can sometimes be crushing.

http://www.bgverghese.com

[ramana]

ISRO contributions to Indian soceity


Stats of how disaster gets mitigated with early warning and evacuation:

A Tale of Two Cyclones
•1999 - Category 5 Cyclone 05B hits Eastern India: 10,000 deaths
•2013 - Category 5 Cyclone Phailin hits Eastern India: c.50 deaths

[ramana]

Hindu has two articles

UttaraKhand One year after teh deluge

Uttarakhand: a year after the deluge

Kavita Upadhyay

A pillar from a broken bridge stands amid the Pindar river in Narayanbagar village. It is all that was spared by the river when it shifted course and tore through the village last year. The river took with it around 50 buildings and landslips followed.

On June 16-17 last year, rains wreaked havoc, with flash floods in many rivers of Uttarakhand; landslips engulfing property and lives, especially in Kedarnath Valley. On June 17, the Mandakini swept through Kedarnath. Other rivers, including the Alaknanda, Pindar, Bhagirathi and Kali, got flash flooded and the deluge of took away the lives of 169 people and rendered 4,021 people missing.

A year on, the State government is focussing on Kedarnath restoration efforts. However, lack of similar attention can be witnessed in other disaster-hit areas in Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh, and Uttarkashi districts. Avtar Singh Pharswan, President, Aapda Sangharsh Samiti, Narayanbagar, said, “On May 26 we staged a protest. The bridge in our village is broken for a year and it has become a problem for the people to reach the main road. Every department says the work is with some other department. We will continue our protest.”

After the deluge there were talks about providing rehabilitation to the villagers whose land was subject to constant sinking. However, nothing has been done by the authorities to rehabilitate those at risk.

In Uttarakashi’s Bhatwari region, villagers complained that multiple survey teams conducted surveys of the cracked houses and the extent of damage in the region. But the issue of rehabilitation either gets reduced to mere compensation for repairing the buildings situated on sinking land, and sometimes even compensation is not provided.

An ill-repaired road that has streams passing by takes one to Lambagar, a village 15 kilometres ahead of Badrinath. Kuldeep Chauhan, a resident of the village, said, “The work that has been done here is temporary. The roads will get blocked as soon as the monsoon rains arrive.”

Though protection walls are under construction in the area, it is unlikely that the work will be over before the monsoon season arrives.

State government data reveals that around 3 lakh pilgrims have visited the Char Dhams since the yatra began in the first week of May. Though the yatra, which affects the livelihood of around 7 lakh people, is being conducted, temporary reconstruction work is all that is visible. In most cases, that which was to be rebuilt has merely been repaired in a year after the deluge.

In May, Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that Rs. 4,000 crore was required in addition to the Rs 8,000 crore rehabilitation and reconstruction package that was approved by the UPA-II government. Though there has been no upgradation in the equipment of the meteorological department in a year after the tragedy, talks about establishing an early warning system are under way.

Also note the links to other articles in the bottom of the page

Uma Bharati outlines steps for flood prevention

Uma Bharti outlines flood-prevention steps

Union Minister of Water Resources Uma Bharti on Monday announced important measures such as improving the flood warning system and repair of river embankments to prevent disasters like the one that struck Kedarnath last year, killing thousands of pilgrims and leaving many more displaced.

On the first anniversary of the tragedy, Ms. Bharti said the Central Water Commission has been advised to give prior warnings about rise in water levels in lakes in higher reaches, which are more than 50 hectares in area.

Tree plantation

As a tribute to pilgrims who lost their lives, the Ministry will launch a massive tree plantation drive. This will be in coordination with the Ministry of Environment, Department of Tourism and the Uttarakhand government. Efforts will be made to re-plant medicinal plants that were washed away in the floods. The tree plantation drive will cover Gangotri, Haridwar, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Farakka, Nawadweep and Ganga Sagar.

“I will stay on the banks of Yamuna here to pay my homage to those who died,” the Minister said at a press conference here.

Ms. Bharti said the government is serious about cleaning of the Ganga. A group of secretaries will soon give a report in consultation with environmentalists, experts and saints.

Ms. Bharti said the Ganga cleaning programme would also take into account the millions of people who are dependent on the river.

[Prasad]

What about the massive stupid building on slopes that had no business hosting so many buildings close to fast rivers prone to floods? Environmental aspect is important in such areas or else we'll again risk life and livelihood of so many.

[Ashokk]

Special Report: Kedarnath, one year later (NDTV, in hindi)