More than 1,000 people have been killed as an Indian air force helicopter crashed into a pilgrimage site in Uttarakand, India where almost 100,000 victims were forced to evacuate the affected area. With early monsoon showers the heaviest they have been in over 80 years, the death toll continues to rise.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the situation as “distressing” and announced a 10bn rupee aid package for Uttarakhand.
Doctors braced themselves for an epidemic of disease uncovered from the bodies inaccessible by the Indian army. For the bodies that have been recovered, plans to hold a mass cremation are continuously delayed as the monsoon rains continue to fall.
Anger amongst the Indian population rages, as they argue that this disaster was “man-made”. The rampant construction and extreme mining projects, with no appropriate safety measures in place within the Himalayan Mountains, have all contributed to the destruction. The premature floods only provide a partial explanation.
A report published two months ago by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a constitutional body that audits the Government, stated that the area was a “disaster was waiting to happen”. It added that the government of Uttarakhand had a dysfunctional disaster management system with no concrete plan and an inadequate communication system, even though the region has a history of natural calamities.
Roads were built with no second thought and new, high-rise hotel properties were erected against riverbanks. This was a recipe for disaster.
Zubin Zaman, Humanitarian Manager for Oxfam India, which is working in Rudraprayag, one of the worst affected districts said, “There are also carcasses of livestock in rivers and streams and this has, of course, contaminated so many of their water sources. But people are desperate and are being forced to consume water they wouldn’t otherwise.”
It is around this time, every summer, when hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus make a pilgrimage known as the Himalayan Char Dham Yatra to four temple towns in Uttarakhand. The pilgrims usually return before monsoon rains begin in July, but both disasters were unavoidable.
By Aneesa Malik
