Kedarnath Tragedy, 2013 :

Kedarnath was devastated on 16th evening–17th morning (June 2013) due to landslides and flash floods that killed more than 5000 people in Uttarakhand. Many people died in 2013 due to a natural disaster near Kedarnath temple. The tragedy was that the people who died in it were mostly ardent devotees.

They came on a pilgrimage to pay respects to their beloved God, Shiva, without knowing that it would be their final journey (mahaprastanam) and their lives would be consumed in the fury of Nature.

Kedarnath Temple :

Kedarnath temple has a long history. According to the legends, it was originally built by the Pandavas during the Mahabharata times and ever since the deity has been revered by Hindus as one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. It is also one of the four most sacred places of Hindus (char dham).

The current temple was said to have been built in the eighth century A.D., and visited by Sri Adi Shankaracharya. It is also one of the famous Hindu temples, located at a very high altitude of 11,755 ft.

Cause :

In June 2013, a multi-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides becoming the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. The reason the floods occurred was that the rainfall received was on a larger scale than the regular rainfall the state usually received. The debris blocked up the rivers, causing major overflow. The main day of the flood was 16 June 2013. Though some parts of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India experienced the heavy rainfall, some regions of Western Nepal, and some parts of Western Tibet also experienced heavy rainfall, over 89% of the casualties occurred in Uttarakhand. As of 16 July 2013, according to figures provided by the Government of Uttarakhand, more than 5,700 people were "presumed dead." This total included 934 local residents.

Destruction of bridges and roads left about 300,000 pilgrims and tourists trapped in the valleys leading to three of the four Hindu Chota Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The Indian Air Force, the Indian Army, and paramilitary troops evacuated more than 110,000 people from the flood ravaged area.

Origin :

From 16 June 2013, the Indian state of Uttarakhand and adjoining areas received heavy rainfall, which was about 375% more than the benchmark rainfall during a normal monsoon.This caused the melting of Chorabari Glacier at the height of 3800 metres, and eruption of the Mandakini River which led to heavy floods near Gobindghat, Kedar Dome, Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Western Nepal, and acute rainfall in other nearby regions of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Tibet.

The upper Himalayan territories of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are full of forests and snow-covered mountains and thus remain relatively inaccessible. They are home to several major and historic Hindu and Sikh pilgrimage sites besides several tourist spots and trekking trails. Heavy rainfall for four consecutive days as well as melting snow aggravated the floods.Warnings by the India Meteorological Department predicting heavy rains were not given wide publicity beforehand, causing thousands of people to be caught unaware, resulting in huge loss of life and property.

Damage :

Landslides, due to the floods, damaged several houses and structures, killing those who were trapped. The heavy rains resulted in large flashfloods and massive landslides. Entire villages and settlements such as Gaurikund and the market town of Ram Bada, a transition point to Kedarnath, had been obliterated, while the market town of Sonprayag suffered heavy damage and loss of lives. Pilgrimage centres in the region, including Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the hallowed Hindu Chardham (four sites) pilgrimage centers, are usually visited by thousands of devotees, especially after the month of July on wards.

Over 70,000 people were stuck in various regions because of damaged or blocked roads. People in other important locations like the Valley of flowers, Roopkund and the Sikh pilgrimage centre Hemkund were stranded for more than three days. National Highway 7 (Old National Highway 58), an important artery connecting the region was also washed away near Jyotirmath and in many other places. Because summers have more number of tourists, the number of people impacted is substantial. For more than three days, stranded pilgrims and tourists were without rations or survived on little food. The roads were seriously damaged at more than 450 places, resulting in huge traffic jams, and the floods caused many cars and other vehicles to be washed away. 

Rescue Operation :

On 18 June, more than 12,000 pilgrims were stranded at Badrinath, the popular pilgrimage center located on the banks of the Alaknanda River. Rescuers at the Hindu pilgrimage town of Haridwar on the river Ganga recovered bodies of 40 victims washed down by the flooded rivers as of 21 June 2013.  Bodies of people washed away in Uttarakhand were found in distant places like Bijnor, Allahabad and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. Searching for bodies who died during the extreme natural fury of June in Kedar valley continued for several months and even as late as September 2013, about 556 bodies were found out of which 166 bodies were found in highly decomposed state during fourth round of search operations.

Although the Kedarnath Temple itself was not damaged, its base was inundated with water, mud and boulders from the landslide, damaging its perimeter. Many hotels, rest houses and shops around the temple in Kedarnath township were destroyed, resulting in several casualties. Most of the destruction at Kedarnath was caused by a sudden rapid melting of ice and snow on the Kedarnath Mountain, 6 km (3.7 mi) from the temple, which flooded the Chorabari lake (upstream) and then Kedarnath. The temple was flooded with water resulting in several deaths due to drowning and panic-driven stampede.Even after a week, dead bodies had not been removed from Kedarnath town, resulting in water contamination in the Kedarnath valley and villagers who depend on spring water suffered various types of health problems like fever, diarrhoea. 

When the flood receded, satellite images showed one new stream at Kedarnath town. No damage at the Kedarnath Temple occurred. The Uttarakhand Government announced that due to the extensive damage to the infrastructure, the temple will be temporarily closed to regular pilgrims and tourists for a year or two, but the temple rituals will still be maintained by priests. The Temple opened for pilgrims on 4 May 2014.

Measures to be taken :

• Encourage people to plant tress around the shores of the river banks and stop the illegal construction of any kind specially in the hill areas,along the road side because it makes the soil loose and when rain comes it results in flood.
• Stop the use of poly bags and banned it.Its already banned but we can see still many shop keepers are using it because the industries which are manufacturing the poly bags cannot stop their production so there is huge pressure from industries on uttrakhand govt. Polybags results in non flow of water in the river and water logging occurs,which is dangerous.
• Implement the Land reform law so that we can stop construction of hotels,guest houses and malls.Builders and property dealers are cutting forest and making hotels and guest houses, need dense forest to bind the soil during rainy season and also to stop soil erosion.By doing this can stop the builders and property dealers to construct hotels and malls and guest houses.
• Declare the flood prone areas as “No go area” ,stop any illegal construction inside the NO go area.Educate the villagers about planting tress and its benefit. Make Uttrakhand as the carbon free state.
• Create and mark helicopter landing spots in mountains and keep fuelling option available every 100 km distance. Also place a helicopter bay and 10 staff to execute rescue operations every 100km. Start such facility 10 days before Akshay Tritiya after testing the same, and end it 10 days after Diwali every year.
• Medical facilities at every 100 km range or in major spots where there is helicopter landing or bay. In case of emergency, pilgrims can be flown and directly admitted for medical treatment to save lives.
• Thrive towards sustainable development .