Site of Major Landslides with Number of Dead
Commentary
In the latter half of August, 1998, severe rains lashed the Himalayas, causing devastating in their wake. On August 14, 69 people died in a landslide in Okhimath block (near Gutpkashi). A week later, the entire village of Malpa, lying along the Kali river on the way from Dharchula to Lipu Lekh, was swept away. The death toll, 205, included road workers, porters, members of the border police, and five dozen pilgrims returning from a yatra (pilgrimage) to Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet (August 18). Two dozen more people died when Mansuna village in Rudraprayag district also disappeared (August 19). In addition, hundreds of homes and infrastructure were demolished by the torrential rains and intense winds, that had also hampered rescue efforts.
By August 20, the authorities began evacuating 50,000 residents of the Okhimath block, as rubble, debris, and boulders had fallen into the Madmaheshwar river, a tributary of the Mandakini, plugging it and causing the formation of an artificial lake. As the lake swelled, so did the danger, as a flash flood would submerge two dozen villages. The army cautioned against blasting the artificial dam with dynamite, as the sudden discharge would overwhelm the villages below. Instead, the lake was left to erode naturally. Also, local villagers and social activists went on search and rescue expeditions, while various NGOs scrambled to attend to the needy. In Dehra Dun and other large cities, generous people rallied to send aid to the victims of the landslides and flooding that had afflicted the plains.
(BBC) Mudslides washed out many roads (8/19/98)
The death toll due to landslides had surpassed the past record and followed a very intense winter and hot summer in the hills. The extreme weather fluctuations, probably due to El Nino-related disturbances, combined with possible global warming-induced climate extremes to aggravate the situation.
These recent landslides served to remind us that ecologically, the Himalayas are dying the death of a thousand clearcuts. Recurring landslides have afflicted the Uttarakhand Himalayas for decades now, engraved in the memories of the survivors who lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods.
Apart from whole villages like Malpa and Mansuna swept away by the flood waters and cloud bursts, life for the rest of the people have become more and more tenuous with the environmental deterioration of the Himalayas. Large-scale deforestation, largely attributable to outside commercial contractors, have ravaged the hills. The people's forest rights, increasingly curtailed since British times, have diminished as the forests have declined. For locals, the forests had not only borne a steady supply of fuel wood, but also retained moisture in the soil, without which, precious fresh water springs would dry up (as they are throughout the hills). What little forest left to the local people, has been stressed beyond the breaking point.
Furthermore, the deforestation has led to soil erosion and lowered water retention. The effect of this proved catastrophic as so dramatically demonstrated this August. Indeed, the Chipko movement was motivated in large part by the tragedies of landslides that had by the 70s become an ominous threat to the difficult hill life of Uttarakhandis. In its most philosophical phase, the movement linked all these issues together, bringing village common sense and ecological awareness in conflict with the supposedly "scientific" and "forward-looking" plans of the government and big business.
Unfortunately, the struggle to change the outlook of the leaders of the nation continues. Today, by almost anyone's estimate, the development paradigm followed by governments in India have worsened the situation, being the chief consumer of the forests and despoiler of the hillsides. A recent editorial in the Times of India (August 20) lambasted successive state and central government policies that have undermined the fragile Himalayan ecosystem and geology. The pillage of the forest, coupled with neglect for the Himalayas, have done their part to intensify the destructive forces of nature. Incidently, the editorial also remarked cynically that the government only responded to this August's landslides with a flurry of activity because prominent VIPs were among the pilgrims that were lost near Malpa. India Today has already published a list of pilgrims feared dead. It goes without saying that a similar list of Uttarakhandi villagers or workers that died will probably not appear in the press.
The heavy rains this year have caused havoc throughout Asia, as seen in China, where the Yangtze floods have been the worst in over 30 years. There too, heavy deforestation all along the river banks has allowed water to flow unhindered, sweeping all before it. Three thousand people have died there, and millions have been left homeless. The national emergency in China has been so severe that hundreds of thousands of troops have been mobilized to hold back the raging rivers. The Chinese government has also proclaimed a change in policy, as the previous habits of corruption and reckless ecological destruction had proved a catastrophic failure.
Furthermore, the crisis in Bangladesh is at its most severe in living memory, with over 60% of the country under water. Much of the flooding has been caused by the overcharged rivers flowing from the denuded Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. The floods have swamped 30 million people, destroyed millions of dollars in crop land, carried off livestock, and caused enormous damage to the country's infrastructure. The staggering tragedy is matched only by the human folly, that could not, despite all the warnings, avoid this catastrophe.
It is possibly only a matter of time before the Ganga similarly rages through the plains of India. Indeed, a thousand people have already lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands made homeless by floods in UP and West Bengal. The same corruption that afflicted the dykes and dams of China, the cheap material and shoddy workmanship that allowed them crumble against the weight of flood waters, afflicts most of the development projects in India. Indeed, the Tehri Dam, under construction for at least 30 years, has been a bonanza for contractors, while ruinous to the immediate area. As such, the country is possibly verged on a Himalayan disaster, one that will need Himalayan solutions to prevent.
More landslides
- 41 killed in landslips in UP hills (October 23, 1998)
Retrospective
September 1998
- UP landslides victims face severe winter
- Malpa porters -- forgotten victims of landslide tragedy
- The Indignities of Dying
August 28-31, 1998
- Landslip displaced unhappy with relief
- Ecological imbalance in Himalayas due to faulty forest policy
August 26-27, 1998
August 24-25, 1998
August 23, 1998
- `Malpa landslide could have been averted'
- Livestock forces people to risk death
- Danger: landslide zone
- Recounting the landslide horrors
- Protima Bedi's body found
- Nature lets lake take its own course
- Thousands still under threat in Garhwal
- Army runs airlift sortie before bad weather shuts the sky out
August 22, 1998
August 21, 1998
- Heavy rain, deforestation caused landslip
- Garhwal gears up to face flash flood
- Rescuers recover 24 bodies, rescue 13 landslide survivors
- Relief work remains mired
- 'Debris avalanche' may cause more havoc
- Blocked Mandakini threatens UP with bigger calamity than Malpa
- Rescue Efforts Underway
- Deforestation blamed in part for India landslides
August 20, 1998
- Courting Calamity (editorial)
- Long-term relief measures needed in Okhimath
- Rain hampers rescue work at landslide site, 210 feared dead
August 19, 1998
- Hill people vulnerable to recurring disasters
- More Landslides Strike India
- 10 survive Malpa calamity; 25 killed in Rudraprayag landslide
- What caused the landslide?
- Himalayan landslides force evacuation
August 18, 1998
August 14-17, 1998
- Pilgrims in UP stranded due to heavy rains (August 17, 1998)
- UP landslide kills 69 (August 15, 1998)
- Rain, landslips claim 36 lives in UP hills (August 14, 1998)
- R.R. 10.22.98