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| Cracks widen, rumours add to panic (April 16)
Panic, but no damage, in UP hills (April 16) Killer Quakes (April 12) Tremors trigger demand for tents (April 10) Panel to assess damage in quake-hit Distts (April 9) Quake-hit spend cash dole on booze (April 9) Another quake rocks UP (April 8) No respite from quakes for Chamoli residents (April 8) More landslides, floods await Chamoli (April 6) Noxious fumes in Garhwal village cause a stir (April 6) Chamoli dreads rains (April 5) Quake collapses will be soon forgotten, say experts (April 5) Rain will spell more disaster in UP hills (April 3) VIP visits hamper relief work (April 3) Quake-hit victims wait patiently for the much needed relief (April 2) Sonia to visit quake-hit areas in UP (April 2) Himalayan Earthquake Relief Hampered by Remoteness, Lack of Headlines (April 2) Tremors cease in Garhwal (April 1) Experts concerned over second quake in Garhwal (April 1) Tales of woe of quake victims (April 1) Fresh tremor hits quake-hit area (April 1) India's Earthquake Victims Mourn the Dead as the Clean-Up Effort Begins (March 31) Another quake in Garhwal, 50 hurt (March 31) Quaking with fear, many residents prefer open sky (March 31) Fresh tremors rock Chamoli (March 30) Tragedy in the hills (March 31) The quake havoc (March 31) A quake-hit town awaits relief (March 31) Experts differ on depth of focus of quake (March 30) Chamoli - a ghost town today (March 31) Fresh tremors in Garhwal; rescue efforts continue Centre announces relief package (March 31) Survivors brave elements, maneaters (March 31) Centre should study causes of calamities in hills: Kalyan (March 31) Quake's effect was equal to H-bomb blast (March 31) Quake death toll nears 100: Thousands of homes were completely destroyed (March 30) Sombre Garhwalis get down to the task of clearing up (March 30) Tremors will continue for some more days (March 30) UP quake toll touches 100 (March 30) Seismologists find UP quake extraordinary (March 30) Himalayan quakes devastate larger areas: expert (March 30) Quakes are unpredictable, says expert (March 30) Quake epicentre was in the UP hills (March 30) Death toll rising in northern India earthquake (March 29) Overnight, Chamoli turns a ghost town (March 29) 88 killed as major quake rocks N. India (March 29) Quake proves landmass still moving northwards: Experts (March 30) Survivors describe a `night of horror' (March 30) 100 feared killed as quake hits Garhwal (March 30) BIS updating India's quake map (March 30) Medical teams rushed to Garhwal (March 30) Quake among country's top 15 in two centuries (March 30) 85 killed, many injured as quake rocks North India (March 30) |
Cracks widen, rumours add to panic
Date: 16-04-1999 :: Pg: 15 :: Col: a By Our Staff Correspondent (The Hindu) CHAMOLI, APRIL 15. Repeated aftershocks of the Chamoli earthquake, especially the one measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale that shook the region around 10.44 last night with its epicenter in Chamoli, have further widened the cracks in buildings, roads and hill sides compounding the panic that grips the people. The shocks were felt all over Chamoli, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Dehra Dun, Hardwar, Muzzafarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad and Delhi. Rumours of a major earthquake in the offing, fanned by 'predictions' of self styled experts are making matters worse. According to Mr Vinod Kumar Dandona, Commandant, Garhwal Sector of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police no casualties had been reported from the region till late in the evening today though reports of existing cracks widening had come in from far flung areas where the ITBP personnel were located for routine or relief works. The massive landslides that have occurred in the region over the past fortnight and the loosening of the earth's crust in this ecologically and geologically fragile region may, it is feared, lead to more landslips during monsoons or any heavy downpour and experts feel that the people should be ready for it. The increase in water flow from natural sources including the increase in the water level of Ningol river in Ningol valley in Pokhri Tehsil of Chamoli are part of the ongoing phenomenon. ``Scientifically speaking, the upheavals may be of great interest to scientists but will lead to more hardship and fear among the people,'' according to Mr R C Chamoli, a gram sabha member of Pokhri. Referring to the ambitious construction of earthquake resistant houses project undertaken by the HUDCO and other agencies, Mr Jai Singh Rawat, a social worker said it would be good to provide built houses to the people who should be asked to foot a part of the bill through easy interest free installments. The people should also be asked to contribute in the form of labour. This Mr Rawat felt would ensure people's participation. They would also feel more involved in the effort. Mere doling out of funds, a good portion of which will get siphoned off by corrupt officials and squandered by the males of the beneficiary families would not serve any purpose, he said. Mr Rawat's views are echoed by social workers Ms Sarla Bahuguna, Ms Rashmi Dobhal and Ms Kalawati who have urged the Chief Minister, Mr Kalyan Singh, to order handing over of constructed houses to them rather than providing money to rebuild or repair the damaged houses. The money would be siphoned by corrupt officials or the menfolk would prefer to spend it on liquor, they apprehend. Dr Niranjan Singh Virdi, scientist F at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) in Dehra Dun while welcoming the formation of a Task Force for handling the hazard problems of Garhwal, stressed upon the need for an urgent establishment of a network (array) of instruments in the region to get the data to identify zones that need immediate attention in this geologically well-known area. The WIHG has an array in Kangra - Dharmshala - Chamba area of Himachal Pradesh and is getting good records from there. In Garhwal, the Institute however has only one station at Garud Ganga near Joshimath. At present the National Geology Research Institute, the WIHG and a few others have placed instruments in Garhwal, but these will be taken back once the rehabilitation project is completed. Dr Virdi also felt that a long-term study of landslides and landslide-prone areas was required. ``As disaster mitigation was a multi-disciplinary affair, it would be better to set up a special group headed by a noted specialist and involving all people who matter, including bureaucrats. Such a group exists in Himachal Pradesh and could come into existence here too,'' Dr Virdi said.
Panic, but no damage, in UP hills By R.P. Nailwal The Times of India News Service (April 16, 1999) DEHRA DUN: The earthquake that rattled the entire Garhwal region around 10.50 p.m. on Wednesday with an intensity of 5.2 on the Richter scale, has led to more panic among the hillfolk. However, no damage was reported from any part of the five hill districts. Tremors have continued to be experienced in the hill region since the major quake that claimed 100 lives on March 28 night. Thousands of people have since been rendered homeless and are forced to spend the nights under the open skies. Commissioner, Garhwal division, V.M. Vohra told The Times of India News Service on Thursday that no major damage had been reported from any part of the Garhwal and only some walls of a police building in Gopeswar had given way. But unofficial sources in Gopeswar said the jolt had triggered slope failures and led to the road blockades in many areas. They said people sleeping in the open were far more panic-striken now. The cracks in the walls of those village houses which did not give way in the previous quake had widened. Life in the worst-affected villages such as Gair, Tangsa, Seron, Devaldhar, Gangol, Mawan and Kathur and Chamoli town is already disrupted as 90 per cent houses have been razed to the ground. Meanwhile, there is no let up in complaints about the really needy not getting relief. Only those by the roadside are said to have benefited. There are also allegations that government agencies and NGOs are doing little to meet the people's needs. The quake victims in Bhilangna block of Tehri Garhwal district have been complaining that that no one has paid serious attention to the six most affected villages in the district where some people were also killed. Reports from Rudraprayag and Gopeswar say that by and large, life in the entire quake-hit region remains paralysed. Villagers continue to live in the open, awaiting rehabilitation. ``The onset of the monsoon will aggravate their problems manifold. Besides, the danger of wild animals are posing a threat to the villagers' lives,'' said O.P. Bhatt, a Gopeswar resident.
Chamoli's midnight tremblor could be a precursor to a larger earthquake predicted to savage the Himalayas. But don't expect anyone to be ready. India Today -- April 12, 1999 By Sayantan Chakravarty Wild-eyed and stunned, Mayeshwari Devi crouches on the ground, a tired speck of humanity stunted into insignificance by the great mountains of Garhwal. The rubble behind her, once her home, is now a tomb for her two teenage daughters. Her two little boys are hurt, and Devi has little to say. "I have lost everything," the 42-year-old widow mutters over and over again. She will not go indoors, fearing she will be crushed, like her daughters were. Like Mayeshwari, thousands of traumatised, homeless people cower fearfully in the hills and valleys, their fear springing from an unseen subterranean energy that would dwarf the world's nuclear arsenal. Such was the power released on March 29 and 30 when an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rumbled through the Himalayas, killing 100 people and rendering thousands homeless in 500 villages, mainly in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts, in a half-minute violent shaking of the earth. Below the Himalayas, giant slabs of earth carrying the Indian subcontinent were grinding into Asia, shaking the mountains effortlessly, like a wrinkled bedsheet. The tremor was felt as far away as Delhi, where thousands poured on to the streets at night and many houses developed cracks. It is, geologists stress, a precursor to the big one, a tremblor measuring 8 that could one day soon devastate large swathes of north India. The Richter scale is not mathematical. Each time the magnitude increases by one unit, the ground moves 10 times faster and releases hugely more energy. A magnitude 6 quake has about 32 times more energy than one of magnitude 5. "Chamoli is just smoke, we should be looking for the fire," warns J.G. Negi, emeritus scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. It is a warning that he has frequently made. The last big one was in 1950 in Assam, a ripper of 8.5 that killed 532 people. In the past 100 years, four of the 14 largest quakes have occurred in the Himalayas, one of the world's most active seismic zones. Last year hundreds died when unstable mountainsides collapsed in Malpa and Rudraprayag. "This is all in the same tectonic belt, but we can only speculate on the connection," says V.C. Thakur, head of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun. Wadia geologists are now out studying the aftershocks of Chamoli. About 30 more tremors measuring between 2.4 and 5 on the Richter scale have kept the hills swathed in a seemingly endless terror. It is everywhere. Goldsmith Sikander Shah, 30, cringes when he recounts his torment. The slender youth from Sitamarhi, Bihar, settled in lower Chamoli about 12 years ago, earning a good living for himself. On the midnight of March 28, his happy world lay in ruins. Five of his closest relatives were crushed by heavy stone slabs that came tearing down in a flash. There was no time to act. "The noise was as though the earth below was opening up," says Usha Devi, his wife, who was in the same house. "Then came the cries of the dying." The Rs 50,000 that the Government has promised to the families of each of the dead will be small compensation for the Shahs. Around 30 persons in and around the Purana Bazaar area where the Shahs settled also died. In Upper Chamoli the casualties were not as high but the destruction was appalling. In a police lock-up, six people, including a woman, were killed instantly. "Like a leaf in a storm, our house shook and then everything crumbled," recalls constable K.K. Singh. With wife Hira Devi, Singh rushed to the lock-up but it was too late. Nine injured prisoners were removed in the darkness. The six lay crushed under entire sections of walls and roofs. Fear stalks the streets, the fields, creeps into the tents of the homeless. In the district headquarters of Gopeshwar, normal life has come to an end. The town folk do not want to stay indoors as an "earthquake alarm" rings across the skies every now and then. Often people rush out on false alarms. Says school- teacher Usha Bhat: "We can't sit in peace inside as our houses have cracked up." But out in the open there is another fear. "It is unsafe to sleep here," says Sukhdev Singh, 21, tremulously. Garhwal is leopard country, notorious in the past few years for flash attacks on humans by the big cats. As for disaster management, don't look beyond the tired, inadequate knee-jerk reactions. No one has ever bothered about cheaper alternatives for the brittle stone and tin houses perched precariously on the hillsides. No one's ever heard of the building codes that faceless bureaucrats draw up. For now even the tents being pitched in the villages, in habitations that dot the roadheads, are grossly inadequate. Medical aid is a dream for many. Mayeshwari's son Amit Raj, 10, has a laceration on his right ankle caused by a sharp slab that tore into him. Forget the counselling he so desperately needs after losing his sisters, he hasn't seen a doctor yet. For now all speech has simply deserted him. As politicians swarm the two villages, officials can't be seen. Not that the sight of politicians is welcome. In Upper Chamoli, Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee's emissaries, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant and Minister of State for Agriculture Som Pal, were heckled. "We saw after the 1991 quake that assurances are all you get," says Ganwar Singh dismissively moments after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh made a flying visit to the devastated village. Som Pal spoke of a comprehensive disaster-management policy (CDMP) and a calamity-relief fund with a corpus in excess of Rs 6,300 crore. How he plans to make that money trickle down effectively is not clear. All he tells you is, "An on-the-spot assessment team will come, submit a report and it shall be considered by an inter-ministerial group." "We always find the machinery works as long as VIPs come and go, then everything becomes a forgotten tale," says R.P. Nautiyal, a government counsel. So forget for now the geological studies and the building solutions needed. In the disaster-ridden Himalayas, callousness has a history -- and it will have a future.
Tremors trigger demand for tents By Biswajeet Banerjee The Times of India News Service (April 10, 1999) CHAMOLI: As fresh tremors continue to rock the region, demand for tents has gone up. From the district magistrate to prisoners, all are living in tents. The relief camp in the district magistrate's office also operates from a tent. Same is the case with the make-shift hospital. District magistrate Umakant Panwar said he felt safe in a tent. Even people whose houses have not been damaged want to live in tents, afraid that there concrete structures might not be able to withstand more tremors. Sixteen prisoners have also been put up in tents, almost unguarded. The district jail housing them was reduced to a rubble on March 28. Of the 21 prisoners, five died. The remaining were shifted to Gopeshwar where they refused to live inside a building. The district administration has so far distributed 1,647 tents and 7,521 tarpaulins. But demand for more tents continues to pour in. Manohar Lal, a resident of Saikot village, said he had been coming to the tehsil office in Chamoli for the past two days, but was yet to get a tent. The district magistrate said though life was limping back to normal, the fresh tremors on Wednesday and Thursday had once again instilled fear in the minds of people. According to an estimate, Chamoli has in the past 12 days experienced over 180 tremors of minor and major intensity. About 1,256 villages in Chamoli district alone are said to have been affected by the tremors. However, living in tents also means that people are open to attack from leopards. Though no casualty has been reported so far, government records say there are 16 man-eaters in the Garhwal region.
Panel to assess damage in quake-hit Distts The Times of India News Service (April 9, 1999) NEW DELHI: A high-powered six-member committee has been asked by the Union urban ministry to prepare a reconstruction and repair plan for earthquake-hit Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Uttar Pradesh. V Suresh, chairman of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) will chair it. Uttar Pradesh's housing secretary and a professor of earthquake engineering from Roorkee University are members on the panel which will examine all the issues relating to the damage in the region and recommend follow-up measures.
Quake-hit spend cash dole on booze By Biswajeet Banerjee The Times of India News Service (April 9, 1999) CHAMOLI: With relief money in their pockets, menfolk in the quake-hit Chamoli-Gopeshwar area have hit the bottle like never before. Liquor shops that closed in the wake of the quake have reopened and are doing brisk business. Cash relief of Rs 1,000 and a bagful of atta were handed to each quake-hit family last Sunday. By the next day, when the liquor shops resumed business, much of the money was in the booze vendors' pockets. Women of the town are incensed at this. They say the least the administration could do is close down the liquor shops immediately. Kamla, a married woman, would rather forgo the cash than see it being frittered away by her husband. She says, ``Don't give cash; or, if you must give it, don't hand it to the men.'' Her husband is not impressed and quickly quells the family rebellion by shouting Kamla down. Vimla of Saikot village hasn't seen the colour of the relief money. She complains that cash is making men of her village dash for the nearest theka (country liquor shop). Some of the men have found ingenious excuses to go on a booze binge. Ishri, of Lower Chamoli, who has obviously had one too many, shows off his injuries from the quake, and explains, Dard ho raha hai, isi liye pee liya (I am feeling pain. That's why I have taken a few drinks). Septugenarian Krishan debunks Ishri, Daru for dard! So much bunkum! In Gopeshwar market, a thoroughly drunk man has passed out and is sprawled out on the street. Others around him couldn't care less. It is a good sight to laugh about. The most popular booze in these parts is Chaach, a local liquor made from rice brew. But, suddenly, the Angrezi stuff (India made foreign liquor, or IMFL) has caught the fancy of many who have graduated from chaach. As a result, IMFL sales, too, are booming. Saner counsel in the area wants the administration to stop paying cash relief. The fear is that the Rs 25,000 to be given to people whose houses were damaged in the quake and Rs 50,000 to those whose houses have been destroyed will be similarly frittered away. The administration, aware of the possibility, is pondering over the problem. The current thinking is that instead of distributing money for rebuilding houses, the government will construct houses and hand them over to the people.
REDIFF -- April 8, 1999 The Garhwal Himalayas, where more than 100 people were killed in a powerful earthquake recently, was rocked again by two tremors yesterday. But no one was injured, officials said. The first tremor at 0107 hours was of low magnitude while the second one at 0200 hours measured five on the Richter scale. Following the recent killer earthquake and its continuing aftershocks, people in the region have been sleeping outside their houses, many of which had developed cracks and become vulnerable. UNI
No respite from quakes for Chamoli residents The Times of India News Service (April 8, 1999) DEHRA DUN:Yet another tremor was experienced in the quake-affected Rudrapryag and Chamoli districts at around 1.10 am on Wednesday leading to panic. However, no loss of life or property was reported from any part of the two districts. Several minor tremors have been experienced in the area after it was rocked by a big quake last week which claimed more than 100 lives and rendered thousands homeless. Garhwal divisional commissioner V.M. Vora told The Times Of India News Service telephonically on Wednesday afternoon that following the latest tremors, some water pipelines had been damaged by the heavy boulders.``However, water supply has been restored now,'' he added. On the other hand, unofficial sources claimed that some roads in the hilly region have again been blocked by falling debris in the wake of the latest tremors. Meanwhile, relief work which was progressing slowly earlier,is reported to have picked up substantially, according to Mr Vora. A team, led by UP vidhan parishad chairman Nityanand Swami, is presently touring the area to oversee the disbursal of relief material. Mr Swami has been asked by chief minister Kalyan Singh to personally supervise the disbursal of relief and submit a report to the government in a day or two. This was done in view of the growing dissatisfaction among the quake victims. Mr Vora said a sum of Rs 2.60 crore had been disbursed among the quake victims in Chamoli and Rs 45 lakh in Rudraprayag. He said of the 1,256 severely-affected villages in Chamoli district, some 900 had been provided relief till now. Similarly, some 200 villages in Rudrprayag district had been covered by relief teams. The water crisis in the affected areas, too, is said to have been resolved to a large extent. General manager of Garhwal Jal Santhan H.P. Uniyal said on the telephone that some 306 water schemes had been damaged in the affected areas but a majority had been restored. There has been resentment in various quarters over the disbursal of relief with the BJP and Congress workers levelling charges against each other. The two parties are the main rivals in the Uttarakhand region. Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to the two districts even as quake-victims were openly agitating in Chamoli might prove to be a shot in the arm for Congress workers.
More landslides, floods await Chamoli Karnprayag, April 6 (HT Correspondent) At the Purana Bazar road in Nandprayag which was earlier used by devotees to go to Badrinath by foot, the face of a lion carved out of a stone serves as a natural tap for an underground stream. Earlier a thin stream of water used to flow from the tap. After the eartquake, the flow of water has suddenly become very fast. "This could mean that the fissure under the ground has widened. This could mean serious trouble for the people over here during rainfalls," said Dr J.P. Vaishnava, a resident of Nandparyag. He predicts that the rainfall may bring landslides and flood with the intensity which hit the area in 1971. And going by the look of fissures on the land near Mandal and landslides triggered by earthquakes, the other villagers only hope that Dr Vaishnava is not right in his prediction. In the hills of Garhwal both human beings and animals depend solely on nature. And nature has posed a queer problem for both of them this year. On one hand there has been no rainfall for last five months. This threatens the wheat and rice crops in the area. "The harvest of wheat crops is due by the end of the month. Moreover rainfall will also facilitate the sowing of rice crops. In some areas where the crops are totally dependent on rainfall, they will suffer if there is no rain in next few days," said Ram Prasad Uniyal, pradhan of Pursari village. On the other hand, people who have gone through one earthquake of March 28, are dreading that in case there is rainfall it will wash away their lives. After the earthquake, fissures have appeared on land and most of the houses that have been built with mud and stone have been loosened. "One rainfall and all these houses will collapse and cause landslides. In fact, for the first time there have been landslides without rain. These land slides were triggered off by the earthquake near Mandal on Pokhri road,"said DP Shaily, an employee of Himalaya Pariyavaran Adhyan Vibhag (HPAV), an NGO. Rainfalls in the near future if any will also bring with it another problem. Most of the people whose houses developed cracks in the earthquake are sleeping in the open in fear of another quake. Already the local hospital in Chamoli is full of cases of diarrohea and cough and cold. "Mostly we are receiving complaints of severe cold and cough," said Dr RN Saha, chief medical superintendent . Residents of the area fear that in case there is rain they would be rendered helpless since tents and tarpaulins have been distributed only to villages along the main road. Sleeping out in the open also poses another problem for the villagers.
Noxious fumes in Garhwal village cause a stir Madhukar Kumar (Gaurpuonga (Rudraprayag), April 6) Even by the standard of a slow pace of life of the people here, news travels very fast. And the news of noxious fumes coming out of a crevice formed due to the earthquake at Gaurpuonga village has created a stir among the people here. District administration officials claim that no fumes were coming out from this crevice but the ten-odd families of this village have been ordered to evict their homes. This village is situated about 12 kms from Chandrapuri at a height of 7,500 ft. There is no direct road to the village and the nearest village, Karnsili, is connected by a single non-metallic road known as Keonja Kandli road. The journey from Chandrapuri to Kandli takes about one-and-a-half hours even though the distance is about 8 kms. At Karnsili village where relief operations are trickling in due to almost non-accessible roads one has to stop there and after taking a local guide trek about 4 kms to reach Gaurpuonga village which has suddenly shot into the limelight. The trek towards the village takes another one-and-a-half hours since the climb is almost vertical at places. Just before the village a small road leading to the neighbouring village has been closed owing to landslides and one has to precariously cross the huge mound of rubble on the road to reach Gaurpuonga. In the village though there are ten families only four big houses mark it from the surrounding villages. One of the houses belongs to Bachan Singh. A crevice, about 16 inches wide and 1 km long, starts off a little below the village and goes right through his house. It goes further up the hill before bifurcating. Belying claims of the district administration officials, Mahavir Singh, a resident said "Soon after the quake a crevice appeared and hot steam started coming out of the crevice in several places, On observation it appeared that the fumes were coming out with a lot of pressure."
REDIFF -- April 5, 1999 The recent earthquake in the Garhwal Himalayas, which killed over 100 people and left many injured and homeless, has brought to the fore larger issues which the central and state governments need to address in the long-term for the people of the region. Though the region sits on the main central thrust -- one of the two faultlines across the entire Himalayan stretch, making it highly quake-prone -- almost none of the houses in the villages are quake-resistant. The indigent hill people remain in dire need of aid for building new structures as they are not in a position to even repair the damage caused by the recent quake. The government has asked the Housing and Urban Development Corporation to open an office in the region to provide loans to them - a step, people in the devastated Chamoli town feel, should have been taken much earlier. A tragedy waits to unfold in the region as the quake has shaken the foundation of many houses which, the villagers feel, will collapse in the event of rains. The entire affected area has also become prone to landslides, which could be triggered by rains. Sporadic drizzles on Thursday and Friday sent shivers down the spines of the people who still dread to sleep in their 'now fragile' houses. ''Lord save us all. The first drops of rains warn me that the worst is yet to come,'' said Kamleshwari Maithani of Pipalkoti town, about 50 kilometres from Chamoli. Roorkee University experts have warned that the damaged houses were unfit for habitation as they could cave in anytime. The plight of those like Kamleswari goes unnoticed as the officials in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts are still preoccupied in providing relief to the families which suffered casualties or were rendered roofless. The tents being provided by the administration to the affected is an apology for shelter. The government needs to formulate a long-term disaster management plan to minimise damage in such eventualities in this vulnerable region, say social activists. Most of the victims of last August's landslides in Rudraprayag district, which claimed more than 60 lives, are still in search of a secure shelter. ''After a few months, everybody will forget the disaster and nothing will be done to minimise damage in future,'' said Dr R N Dubey, an earthquake expert from the Roorkee University, which has sent a three-member team to assess the damage and make recommendations for future construction. Quake expert, Dr D C Roy and seismologist, Dr M L Sharma are the other members of the team. Incidentally, the university had recommended the construction of such houses after the Uttarkashi quake of 1991. However, the recommendations have been consigned to the state archives. The Centre yesterday decided to set up a task force to survey the damage in the region and recommend quake-resistant house designs. ''Houses in the region should be constructed on the lines of those in Latur,'' Dr Roy suggested. The Roorkee team insisted that the guidelines of the Indian Society for Earthquake Technology and the Bureau of Indian Standards for both 'engineered' and 'non-engineered' structures were followed. ''Quake-resistant material will add only 6-8 per cent to the cost of construction and it should be made mandatory through a legislation,'' Dr Dubey felt. This was echoed by Garhwal University Vice-Chancellor, Professor S Saklani who said a cell should be set up to ensure that houses are constructed as per the guidelines. UNI
Quake collapses will be soon forgotten, say experts REDIFF -- April 5, 1999 The recent earthquake in the Garhwal Himalayas, which claimed over 100 people and left many injured and homeless, has brought to the fore larger issues which the central and state governments need to address. Though the region sits on the main central thrust, one of the two fault lines across the Himalayas, making it highly quake-prone, almost none of the houses in the villages is quake-resistant. "After a few months, everybody will forget the disaster and nothing will be done to minimise damage through house collapses in future,'' said Dr R N Dubey, quake engineer from Roorkee University, which has sent a three-member team to assess the damages and make recommendations for future construction. Engineer Dr D C Roy and seismologist Dr M L Sharma are the other members of the team. The university had recommended construction of such houses even after the Uttarkashi quake of 1991. However, the recommendations were not acted upon. The Centre yesterday decided to set up a task force to survey the damages in the region and recommend quake-resistant house designs. "Houses in the region should be constructed on the lines of that in the post-1993 quake in Latur," Roy suggested. The Roorkee team insisted that the guidelines of the Indian Society for Earthquake Technology and the Bureau of Indian Standards for both 'engineered' and 'non-engineered' structures are followed. "The quake-resistant material will add only 6-8 per cent to the cost of construction and it should be made mandatory through legislation," said Dr Dubey. This view was echoed by Garhwal University vice-chancellor Prof P S Saklani, who said a cell should be formed to ensure that houses are constructed according to the specifications given for quake-prone areas. The indigent hill people remain in dire need of aid to build new structures since they find themselves unable to even repair damages caused by the quake. The government has asked HUDCO to open an office in the area to provide loans. People in this devastated town feel this step should have been taken much earlier. The quake has shaken the foundation of many houses which, the villagers feel, will collapse in the rains. The entire affected area has also become prone to landslides, which could be triggered by rains. Sporadic drizzles on Thursday and Friday sent shivers down the spines of the people who still dread to sleep in their houses. "The first drops of rains warn me that the worst is yet to come," said Kamleshwari Maithani of Pipalkoti town. The Roorkee University experts warned that the damaged houses were unfit for habitation as they could cave in at any time. The plight of those like Kamleswari goes unnoticed as officials in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts are still preoccupied with providing relief to the families that lost members or were rendered homeless. The tents and tarpaulins being provided by the administration to the affected are not of much use. Social activists calls for a long-term disaster management plan to minimise damages if an earthquake hits. Most victims of last August's landslides in Ukhimath in Rudraprayag district, which claimed more than 60 lives, are still in search of a secure shelter. Social activists are harping on the need for greater community participation in reconstruction work. The short-staffed administration has already roped in teachers for relief work in Rudraprayag district. "People should also come forward and get involved in rehabilitation work," Admiral S K Dwiwedi said. Debi Prasad, former block pramukh of the Nagnath-Pokhri area, said the government could not reconstruct all the houses damaged in the block. In Gopeshwar, Kiran Purohit, who co-ordinates the activities of a collective of voluntary agencies in the district, said touch and go relief measures would be of little help. "We hope every institution has learnt lessons from the quake,'' said ITBP Director-General Gautam Kaul, who stressed the need to evolve an elaborate disaster management plan. The dwindling forest cover on the mountains is also a matter of concern for environmentalists, who said this could disturb the ecological balance in the region, besides accentuating the problem of landslides. They called for stringent measures against the "forest mafia", mainly responsible for these fires. One could see fires raging on the mountains all along the route from Srinagar to Gopeshwar.
Rain will spell more disaster in UP hills Rudraprayag, April 3 (Gaurav Kala - Hindustan Times) A chilling picture has started to emerge as Army and paramilitary units, returning from their survey mission to remote villages started filing assessment report today. But for a few, hundreds of villages surveyed so far have reported severe structural damage to their buildings. Not only houses but community buildings like schools, which were also traditional safe shelters during calamities, cowsheds and outhouses have been reported destroyed or too dangerous to live in. To make matters worse, the sky remained overcast and light drizzles were reported from few places. Frightened eyes turned skyward as dark clouds congregated over the earthquake affected areas in and around this town. Rains would spell disaster for most of the people, whose lives have barely started to inch its way towards normalcy a week after the earthquake. "If it rains heavily, all of what we managed to salvage will also be destroyed," villagers with their hearts in their mouths said when the area had a light drizzle this afternoon. But mercifully, the drizzle did not intensify. However, reports predict that it is only a matter of time before rains unleashed more devastation. "At most, the administration has about three months to get their acts together and prepare for the rains," said Dr. Anil Joshi, head of Himalyan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO). "Let alone rains bringing houses down, there is a very real possibility of landslides." His organisation has been working in the Garhwal hills for the last two decades. Experts who have sounded similar warnings have based their prediction on water seeping down large fissures that have reportedly occurred along several mountains during the earthquake, sunshine will contract it, in the process loosening the affected mountains' face. If this process is repeated several times, there is every possibility of the mountains face becoming loose. But villagers and many social workers in the area are not pinning their hopes for help on the administration. "Every year or so, we see calamity in the hills. It can be an earthquake, a landslide or a forest fire but still no one has come up with a disaster management plans for the hills," says Satish Sati of Bhartiya Gram Uthan Sanasthan. "One can gauge the administration's apathy from the fact that in this terrain, where land communication lines are prone to damage during a calamity, they have not yet acquired sufficient number of wireless sets. The lack of communication between remote villages and towns is amply reflected by the fact that the Army and para military organisations had to be called in to assess the damage and distribute aid. There are still some remote villages of which the administration has no news to date. While for the administration, the end of the tremors may well mean the end of the calamity, the villagers know that only tougher times lie ahead.
By R P Nailwal The Times of India News Service (April 3, 1999) GOPESWAR/CHAMOLI: VIPs making a beeline for the quake-hit areas of Garhwal are hampering relief work, already slow and inadequate. UP chief minister Kalyan Singh came on March 30; planning commission vice-chairman K C Pant and Union agriculture minister Som Pal on March 31; Sharad Pawar on Thursday and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday. That's four out of the five days since the region was rocked by an earthquake at 12:35 am on Monday. An official said on Friday, ``The VIP visits have disrupted the efforts to launch relief and rehabilitation efforts properly.'' Yet, so desperate are the victims for relief that they are ready to complain to anybody, even the VIPs who are partly responsible for the delay. Ramesh Chandra of Golta registered his complaint with Ms Gandhi on Friday. The common people are not impressed by these visits. Most believe the VIP visits do not ensure help to the victims. The general view among them is that ``these visits are customary, nothing much comes out of them.'' But on some odd occasions, such visits help, depending on how the tehsil administration reacts to VIP visits. A food camp suddenly appeared in Chamoli on Friday by the side of a road Ms Gandhi was to take. The largesse of free ``dal and mota chawal'' did benefit some of them. But some only. While Suppal Lal of nearby Talasi village could make it to the camp and eat, his 13-year-old son Gadru couldn't as he had lost a leg in the quake and couldn't walk. When Suppal Lal went to the tehslidar to petition for his son, he was shooed off. Talasi hasn't been visited by any relief worker. So it has had to go without any relief. Food is so scarce in some villages that even the old and the infirm try to get to the nearest camp. For example, hunger drove 85-year-old Swari Devi to defy her age and walk 10 km to the camp. Scores of villages haven't received any relief whatsoever. Some angry villagers even demonstrated before Sharad Pawar and K C Pant when they visited Chamoli. But their demonstrations were in vain. The situation is bad in villages outside Chamoli and Gopeswar towns. Peoplethere continue to fend for themselves, ignoring rain and in fear of leopards which are frequent visitors to these parts.
Quake-hit victims wait patiently for the much needed relief By R P Nailwal The Times of India News Service (April 2, 1999) GOPESWAR: Fourth mild tremor shook the sensitive Gopeswar area at 12.45 p.m. on Thursday evening, as the totally broken residents of Deva village, few miles from here, were awaiting for the relief, while explaining about the difficulties to a team of visitors. None of them from the relief disbursal wing of the state government, though they had nothing else to lose further in life. Apparently shaken, they began recounting their tale of woes. Among the most interesting and heart rendering case appeared to be that of Jaipal Singh, a 45-year-old villager. Afflicted with chill penury, the poor man is living with four members of his family, including children in his cow shed, even after his house was demolished in 1991 quake. He did not receive any aids from anyone, though the government agencies made tall claim about relief and rehabilitation, in the wake of the quake disaster of 1991. This time also his cow shed, where he was passing his time, has also developed cracks. ``Dashi Devi is another frail looking old widow who is facing the worst that was in store for her in the life. She has four grand daughters to feed. She has lost her husband, her only son and now her house too. ``Till now, some villagers use to take pity on me and gave something to eat now what will I do where will I go from here? she asked while tears roll down from her cheeks. She pleads for help with folded hands. A majority of the villagers in Devar have stories to tell, that cut across the heart. Their houses were brutally mutilated by nature's fury. Bhagwan Das (50) has to feed nine members of his family, while he has nothing now and he feels high and dry. Kirpal Singh and Bachhan Singh, two brothers, having three infants in the family, do not have anything but scanty mother's milk to offer to the new comers to this world. None of the highly depressed penniless hungry looking and exhausted villagers in the severely affected areas such as Kharoda, Ghigrana, Roli and Devar has so far got any kind of relief whatsoever it means. This is the fourth day of the tragedy and the people are in a fit of anger, discussing the lethargy of the government to undertake quick relief measures, even though tall claims are being made on that account. But the official here insist that the relief was on his way. On Tuesday, a senior official of the district administration had emphatically said that the relief was being systematically disbursed. However, on Tursday only a few army men could be seen enrolling people's names for preparing their ration cards. This is the situation where most of the quake-hit victims are passing their nights at under open skies indefinitely waiting for help which is not forthcoming. In Ghagrana village, which basically comprises of scheduled castes and tribes, some 11 Harijan families are really living in such shabby conditions which defies description. One sees toddler crying with hunger for milk. While poor helpless uneducated and downtrodden victims of nature, look sideways in a bid to refuse to acknowledge their offspring presence. ``Sir do something for us,'' pleads Pushkar Lal, who had received serious head injuries and has also lost one of his hands. He is sitting under the sky with grief rich large on his face. His other fellow sufferers are Jaspal Lal, Raju Lal, Amarti Devi, Lakhi Lal and others. All of them have lost their houses totally in toto as future looks bleak for them. A majority of the panic-stricken villagers also constantly complain about the routine rounds of leopards to the affected villages in the dead of the night.
Sonia to visit quake-hit areas in UP The Times of India News Service (April 2, 1999) NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will visit the earthquake affected areas of Garhwal division of Uttar Pradesh on Friday and supervise relief works undertaken by the party. Party spokesperson Girija Vyas told reporters here on Thursday that AICC central relief committee has already drawn up relief plans and appealed to people and various organisations to come forward for helping the victims. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Salman Khursheed, who visited the affected areas on Wednesday, said a relief centre had been set up at Dehra Dun from where party volunteers would provide medicines, clothes, food articles and other necessary things to the quake victims in Chamoli and other areas. Commenting on the new exim policy announced on Wednesday by commerce minister R.K. Hegde, Ms Vyas said it was a ``feeble'' attempt to correct the negative export growth. She said the new policy was nothing but ``ritual'' as the export performance was dismal.
Himalayan Earthquake Relief Hampered by Remoteness, Lack of Headlines Posted on Fri, 02 Apr 1999 00:55:16 GMT Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, DisasterRelief.org While most of the world's attention has been focused on the war in Kosovo, a forgotten disaster continues to unfold in the remote Himalayan foothills of northern India, where a powerful earthquake recently buried dozens of villages and killed at least 110 people. Night after night, residents huddle in fear, unable to sleep as powerful aftershocks rumble across the area. Each shake of the earth dislodges more boulders, which thunder down the immense mountainsides and crash to the valleys below. The March 29 earthquake destroyed at least 750 homes. Indeed, even as relief and government workers struggle to pick up the pieces and tend to the hungry and injured, the aftershocks deliver more destruction, death and injuries. Authorities say the aftershocks have led to at least 50 additional injuries and one death since the March 29 temblor. This "forgotten" disaster also has been exacerbated by the inability of rescue and relief agencies to reach the area, which has been cut off by massive landslides caused by the earthquake. The magnitude-6.8 temblor flattened 14 villages in Uttar Pradesh state, killed at least 110 people and injured 300 others. Badly damaged homes have been finished off by subsequent quakes, forcing residents to sleep outside. Three days after the earthquake, many victims still have received no medical attention, food, water or shelter. Associated Press journalists were the first to reach four remote villages, where residents pleaded for help. As a result of the long delays, local media have picked up stories of residents complaining about the wait. People from distant villages have walked several miles to Chamoli and other towns along the few paved roads to beg for food, medicine and tents. One woman from the Birahi valley told The Times of India that almost all the houses in her village were destroyed, cattle were dead and people were injured; yet no help had arrived. Medical teams park along the roads as close to the villages as they can get. Villagers from deep in the mountains walk to the roads for treatment or carry others across narrow mountain tracks on stretchers. The region is known for its high seismicity, and has been the site of many earthquakes. In Gopeshwar, a town of several hundred families, most people sleep in the streets, playgrounds and even on an army helipad, listening in terror as the trembling earth releases more boulders from the hilltops and sends them crashing down the slopes. Frightened leopards and other animals have strayed into the villages to escape the falling rocks and landslides, adding to the fears of villagers. The leopard has a local reputation as a man-eater in India. At least one girl in the earthquake-stricken region has been killed by a leopard, according to the Press Trust of India. Amidst the turmoil and in response to criticism, the government has geared up its relief operation. Chamoli's district administration has asked for an additional 1,000 Indo-Tibetan Border Police to facilitate the relief process. Army teams are being air dropped into inaccessible villages to coordinate aid efforts. Nearly 1.3 tons of emergency food supplies have been air dropped into isolated areas by army helicopters and plans are under way to deliver 1,000 tents. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, the highest elected offical in Uttar Pradesh, has asked the federal government for $70 million in emergency funds. The relief work is not going as fast as I want," said Singh. "We don't have the money. We are a cash-starved state." A relief convoy of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has delivered tarpaulins, blankets, kitchen utensils, cooking oil, rice and clothing. "We have identified a target group of around 2,500 people who are in serious need of help and we'll be sending another seven or eight loads during the week," said Geoffrey Dennis, head of the IFRC delegation in India. The Indian Red Cross has asked IFRC for $95,000 to finance further efforts.
REDIFF -- April 1, 1999 Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow After days of terror, the residents of Uttar Pradesh's Garhwal had some respite. Last night, for the first time since the Chamoli quake, they stopped waiting for their world to come crashing down around them -- the incessant tremors, plaguing them since March 29, ceased. Meanwhile, with two more of the injured succumbing to injuries in Chamoli late Wednesday night, the death toll has gone up to 103. Superintendent of Police Sridhar Pathak said there was no loss of life or property in the second major quake that rocked the district in the wee hours of Wednesday. Officials in Lucknow, however, who had maintained the toll at 101 until Wednesday morning, reverted to 96 by evening. Explaining this, Chief Secretary Yogendra Narain told Rediff On The NeT, "Apparently there was an error in the initial headcount. Five deaths reported from the neighbouring Tehri district had been wrongly added to the Chamoli toll." "The total toll as of now remains at 98, which includes 58 in Chamoli, 34 in Rudraprayag and 6 in Tohri," he added. He said an area of about 1000 square kilometres was hit by the first quake measuring 6.8 on the Ritcher scale. However, owing to the area's scattered population and the 30 km depth of the epicentre, the damage was not as grave as it was in the 1991 quake in Uttarkashi. Then, as many as 493 human lives were lost. Referring to the breakdown of water supply in Chamoli where the main pipeline was cut off from the natural spring that is its only source of drinking water, the chief secretary said, "We have made special arrangements to ensure water from districts as far as Dehradun," he said. The electric supply had been restored and breaches on the main roads repaired, he added. Meanwhile, State Chief Minister Kalyan Singh suspended Garhwal Civil Divisional Commissioner B M Vohra for "gross negligence and dereliction of duty in handling the disaster."
Experts concerned over second quake in Garhwal Date: 01-04-1999 :: Pg: 08 :: Col: e By P. Sunderarajan NEW DELHI, March 31 (The Hindu) Earthquake experts at the India Meteorological Department here have expressed deep concern over the second tremor in the Garhwal region of Uttar Pradesh in the wee hours of today. The development, according to them, did not portend well. Their fear is based on the fact that the epicentre of the second earthquake was a good 50 km away from that of the Sunday night quake. In other words, it could not be treated as part of the after-shocks that have been continuously emanating from the site of the Sunday night tremor and which were expected, considering that it was quite a powerful quake, registering 6.8 on the Richter scale. On the contrary, the tremor on Wednesday meant that seismic activity was possibly spreading to new areas and that perhaps there could be more earthquakes in the near future in the region. The experts are all the more worried as the tremor was also not a minor one - it registered 5.2 on the Richter scale. Till last evening, the situation appeared to be slowly stabilising, but the quake this morning has changed all that, they added. Meanwhile, the Department of Science and Technology has set up a high-level experts group headed by the Director General of IMD, Dr. R. R. Kelkar, and consisting of Directors of the National Geophysical Research Institute, the Geological Survey of India, the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology and other such institutions to go into all the aspects of the new spurt of seismic activity in the Himalayas, in particular in the Garhwal region, and recommend corrective measures. The department is also gearing to initiate steps to tighten enforcement of building codes to ensure that anti-earthquake measures were incorporated during the construction of houses and buildings. The main aim of the exercise is to ensure that while it may not be possible to predict earthquakes, much less prevent it, steps should at least be taken to reduce the level of casualty, as and when the earth shakes. As seismic experts put it, earthquakes on their own do not cause loss of life. Deaths mainly occur because of collapsing of buildings as a result of the tremors.
By R.P. Nailwal The Times of India News Service (April 1, 1999) CHAMOLI\GOPESWAR: For Darshan Devi of Burali village, the quake has changed its meaning literally overnight, she can no longer share the assurances of life with the central Himalayan bounty of nature any more, as she had been doing for the past 65 springs. Fragile poor village widow, lost everything that she had in terms of belongings and relations on Wednesday afternoon. She came all the way to the office of the sub-divisional magistrate Chamoli from Burali village, with her three minor grand daughters and widowed daughter-in-law, Bali, from Burali, 18 km from here. Hungry, tired and totally dishevelled like many other villagers, who can be seen bedraggled in a file, waiting outside the tiny courtyard of the office of the SDM, Darshani, a harijan, is hardly able to utter few words, when asked about her tales of woe, before she begins to speak, her pent up excitement burst forth. ``What to say sir, I have nothing to look forward now ...my house is raised to the ground, and my belongings buried there. We are living under the open skies for the past three days hungry and sick. Somehow, I managed to bring my daughter-in-law and daughter to this place in the hope. Choked with emotions, she has no male member in the family, as her husband and only son died long ago. She gets some paltry financial help immediately on being taken to additional magistrate Arun Dhondiyal, who happens to be in the SDM's office at that time. Rugubir Singh, 40, of Kandakudket village is full of anger, like many other hundreds of villagers, who have been making their weary way into the office of the SDM, complains that barring two sheets of tarpaulin material and cheap carpets, they had got nothing. Many of them were indeed seen carrying these materials on their heads. Mangal Singh Garia, 60, hailing from worst-affected Birahi valley on way to Badrinath temple, complains that 90 per cent of the houses are totally damaged, cattle perished, some persons injured. ``No one has come to the village from the administration so far,'' he said. Tension, fear and uncertainty, marked the life of the hill people for the past 48 hours. They are all sleeping outside fearful of unknown. They are even prepared to brave the threat posed by leopards that prowl in the dead of the night, looking for the next victim.
Fresh tremor hits quake-hit area By R P Nailwal The Times of India News Service and Agencies (April 1, 1999) CHAMOLI/GOPESWAR: While the poor panic-stricken quake victims file past the sub-divisional magistrate's office in this small township, badly damaged by Sunday night's quake, in the hope of getting some help the administration can offer at this juncture, more major and minor quakes continue to rattle the twin towns. At least 50 people were injured in Chamoli district on Wednesday as a fresh tremor hit the area, still recovering from Sunday night's devastating earthquake that killed more than 100 people and left over 300 injured. The tremor measuring 5.0 on the Richter Scale with its epicentre between Rudranath and Gopeshwar, struck at 2.32 a.m. and lasted a few seconds. The injured have been admitted to a make-shift hospital of the Indian Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) which along with the Army and other para-military forces is engaged in relief and rescue operations, ITBP sources said. There were also reports of people being injured in Rudraprayag district, but details of the extent of damage and casualty were yet to be received. According to preliminary reports some of the houses that developed cracks in the first quake have been badly damaged in the fresh quake. ``The occurrence of the tremor of this intensity after the major quake with 6.8 magnitude in the region could be a freak phenomenon and this unusual development is being studied,'' Prof. V.S. Rama Murthy, secretary, department of science and technology. Prof. Murthy said that this unusual development may signify continuity of stress at more than one place with an independent source in the ``Himalayan fault'' which was identified as the most seismic prone as it had experienced at least a dozen such quakes with magnitude of over six on the Richter Scale during the past century. In the Mandal Valley, the Army has speeded up relief work in 30-35 villages currently cut off from the rest of Chamoli district. Para-military forces, the Red Cross Society and the Army were still trying to reach distant areas which had so far remained inaccessible to government officials engaged in relief work as also the media. Air Force helicopters on Wednesday afternoon dropped food packets in some villages near Gopeswar, as the search for more bodies continued for the third day. Meanwhile, survivors are facing danger from leopards, who, frightened out of forests by crashing boulders, have been sighted not far from the emergency relief camps. A girl was killed by a leopard near Pipalkoti township, 15 kms from Chamoli, residents said. People seem to be, by and large, unhappy with the relief provided to them so far. Local leaders are blaming the administration for not bothering about the people's plight. Some fear that there may be some bungling in the disbursal of compensation to the victims. ``We will take up the matter with UP Congress president Salman Khursheed, who is arriving here later Wednesday afternoon,'' said A.P. Maikhuri of the Congress. Meanwhile, rumours are afloat in the two towns and adjoining villages that a big quake can hit the region once again. In Gopeswar there is an acute water crisis and people can be seen standing in long queues for collecting water from taps in different parts of the town. A number of women and girls could been seen squatting on the courtyard of the sixth century Shiva temple in Gopeswar village, praying to God for mercy. Villagers at Chamoli complained about what they termed ``total apathy'' towards the quake victims, especially in the far-flung villages. ``We are doing whatever we can within our limitations,'' said Arun Dhondiyal, additional district magistrate of Chamoli district, who is supervising the relief operations at Chamoli. Asked about the people's complaints, he said the pace of relief work would be geared up soon. Even while the people continue to sit outside their houses, fearing a fresh jolt any time, central teams led by vice-chairman of the Planning Commission and chairman of the committee on natural disasters K.C. Pant, arrived here, along with Union minister of state for agriculture Sompal Shastri. He told reporters at Gopeswar helipad that quake-resistant houses would be built in the sensitive quake-prone areas in the central Himalayan region. He also had a brief meeting with noted environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt, who is based at Gopeswar, and emphasised the need for NGOs' participation in the reconstruction and rehabilitation work. A team of Army Signal Corps is working on restoring the communication network. Hotlines have already been laid linking Chamoli to Joshimath and Kausani to Bareilly. In a classic case of lack of communication between various government agencies, a class 10 Board examination was held in Gopeshwar on Wednesday morning despite official announcement of the postponement of all Board exams in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts. The examination was held as the school had not received the district administration order on time and it reached the school only after the students had finished writing the paper, G S Rawat, a teacher at government inter college here said. Lack of communication led to hundreds of students reporting for exams at different centres, students said. When contacted, district authorities said the delay was due to the late arrival of orders from the headquarters despite chief minister Kalyan Singh's announcement postponing all examinations in the quake-hit districts.
India's Earthquake Victims Mourn the Dead as the Clean-Up Effort Begins Posted on Wed, 31 Mar 1999 13:59:39 GMT Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, DisasterRelief.org As the death toll rose, survivors of the earthquake that rocked India's Himalayan foothills March 29 began their long mourning process this week. The powerful 6.8 magnitude quake and its aftershocks left 110 dead, close to 300 injured and destroyed 750 homes in the northern region of Uttar Pradesh. The earthquake flattened 14 villages and destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the homes in Chamoli, the site of the earthquake's epicenter. But the complete extent of losses remained unclear as rescue workers attempted to reach the region's most isolated areas. First they had to clear roads, which remained buried in boulders and debris. But the psychological trauma could take years to recover from. "It's a real shock for everybody in the area," he said. The latest earthquake serves as just one of many reminders that this farming community is dangerously situated in one of the earth's youngest mountain ranges. The growing peaks will continue to pose problems because of deforestation and neglect, environmentalists say. Last year dozens of landslides swept the area, wiping out a camp of Hindu pilgrims and killing more than 250 people. The most recent earthquake was the second biggest to strike the region in nine years. A total of eight earthquakes measuring more than 6 on the Richter Scale have hit in the last century. India's most lethal recent earthquake killed nearly 10,000 people in the western part of the country in 1993. Its most powerful quake struck Assam in eastern India in 1950, measuring 8.5 magnitude.
Another quake in Garhwal, 50 hurt Chamoli, March 31 (Harish Chandola - Hindustan Times) An immense feeling of insecurity continued to prevail in upper Garhwal hills after the recurrence of strong tremors over the last 24 hours. Joshimath and other parts of Chamoli district shuddered from four shocks of severe intensity that peaked at 5 on the Richter. The tremors began around 6.30 a.m yesterday. There were milder tremors too thereafter. At 2.35 am today a powerful tremor rocked Joshimath, Chamoli and hills around. It was followed by another tremor 20 minutes later. (PTI said 50 persons were reportedly hurt.) Thousands of traumatised people in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts spent a third night in the open, afraid that their damaged houses might collapse on them from jolts that do not seem to end. The death toll has gone up, with three of the Monday morning's injured succumbing and report of deaths reaching towns from remote, inaccessible villages and hamlets. Casualty figures from areas accessible so far have not been very high primarily because the population in these parts is sparse and scattered. Several hundred buffaloes and cows remain trapped or dead in collapsed cattle-sheds. There is a strong feeling here that the authorities, to minimise panic, are trying to play down the severity of the tremors that followed the first one (that was 6.8 on the Richter). One of the tremors yesterday measured 4.5 on the Richter. Last night's shocks resulted in the collapse of the stone-slate roof of a house in Parsari village, close to my home. Several of my walls developed cracks. Though the UP Chief Minister had announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the death of an earning member of a family, Rs 50,000 for a non-earning one and Rs 25,000 for rebuilding a damaged house, only Rs 10,000 was being given to the kin of the dead in Chamoli. The Prime Minister too has announced an additional compensation of Rs 1 lakh for the death of an earning person, Rs 50,000 for a non-earning one, and Rs 10,000 to each seriously injured person. Twelve hours after the first quake, about 100 Garhwal Scouts, the same number of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, and some from the Special Security Bureau (SSB) were pressed into relief work. Armymen have been supplying drinking water to Gopeshwar residents. The Border Roads Organisation in less than 24 hours heroically cleared all the 15 landslides and showers of boulders that had blocked the Badrinath road between Nandprayag, the epicentre, and Birahi, 20 km up. It is now working on opening the blocked 15 km Gopeshwar-Mandal road. Army teams are also airdropping relief materials in distant and inaccessible villages, Col Prakash Tiwari of Garhwal Scouts said. Nearly 1280 kg of food items, including rice, atta and dal, has been airdropped in areas where relief could not be reached by other means, he said.
Quaking with fear, many residents prefer open sky Bhatwari Sunar, March 31 (Gaurav Kala - Hindustan Times) Life in this village has come to a grinding halt. With most of their houses either destroyed or simply too dangerous to live in following the earthquake, villagers have now been forced to live outdoors. Cots, clothes, quilts and whatever else could be retrieved from the rubble lies strewn around. Most of the villagers' belongings are still inside houses, but no one dares enter them as they are severely damaged and too dangerous to enter. Among the belongings sit shocked villagers in small groups discussing the night the earthquake hit the village. Among those who prefer solitude is Tajwar Singh Jangwal. He had lost his elder brother to illness in July last year. The earthquake claimed two more of his family. His two nieces, Vandama (16) and Kanchan (11) were killed when the roof of their second floor bedroom collapsed. The cracks on the walls and the caved-in roof bear testimony to the violence with which the structure was shaken by the earthquake. The village, which is home to about 70 families, has accepted the earthquake as a natural calamity which had to happen. What has however, angered the villagers is the apathetic attitude of the administration. "No one came here to help. A few area officials did come, they are the ones who put up the banners," said Sita Negi, the aunt of Vandama and Kanchan, while pointing towards a white banner proclaiming Bhatwari Sunar to be a relief camp. "Where is this supposed camp? These banners and these visits were only to soften us up before the Chief Minister's visit. Now that he has left so has the administration." With almost all the houses suffering structural damage the one thing the villagers now fear the most are the rains. "If it rains it will be the end for all of us," said Udai Singh Bhandari, a social worker who resides in a nearby village. "Not only will all our belongings, which are kept in the open be destroyed, all the houses still left standing will collapse. The rain water soaks through the cracks in the walls and leads to their expansion. Once the sun dries the walls they contract thus making them weaker... eventually leading to collapse." A bigger fear of residents here is that this might take place at a much larger scale and entire mountain may be brought down with the rain. "Large cracks have appeared all over the mountains in this area," said Dr Anil Joshi, of the Himalayan Environment Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), "There is a great chance of major landslides during these rains. Further, because there were little or no winter rains the rains this summer are expected to be heavier. The administration has about three months to react before a calamity even worse than the present one occurs." Despite the claims of the administration, villagers alleged that they have received little or no aid. "When I asked the area District Magistrate (DM) to provide us with shelters, he told me to get tents," claimed Gawar Singh Jangwal. "When I asked him where he expected me to find tents, he said I should rent them and later apply for reimbursement from the administration. "If I had the money to do something to lessen my family's suffering does he think I would have waited?" Jangwal said.
Chamoli, March 30 (Gaurav Kala - Hindustan Times) Fear continues to be all-pervading in this small hill town, almost 48 hours after an earthquake razed homes and buried alive many of its residents. Aftershocks measuring sub-4 on the Richter rumbled intermittently throughout today, heightening fears that the area could be hit again. Details of the magnitude of the devastation are only trickling in. But the official figure - 105 dead and more than four times that number injured - could swell greatly by the time the last body is extracted from the debris and the last missing person is accounted for. The tragedy yet again found the administration insufficiently equipped for swift crisis management. Much of the rescue operations were conducted by hundreds of shell-shocked survivors. However, by this afternoon, scores of ITBP and PAC men began helping the rescue effort. Unfortunately, the effort is restricted to towns and villages near the arterial road. Little is known about the situation in far flung villages. It was a lonely farewell for five men, two women and a child. Six of them were undertrial prisoners who died when their prison cells crumbled under the impact of the quake. The bodies of the woman and her child were brought in from an unnamed village early this morning. None of their relatives or friends were there at the cremation. Policemen and journalists, who either clicked away furiously or jotted down notes, were at hand when the pyres were lit. The bodies were extricated by men from the 8th batallion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and local policemen. The were wrapped in white sheets, mounted on rickety cots and brought to the banks of the river Alaknanda. The policemen were the pall bearers and were followed by the journalists. With blood still oozing from some of the bodies, they were piled one on top of another, doused with kerosene and lit. Even in this 'devbhoomi,' or the Land of the Gods, there was no one to perform the last rites. Officially, 61 deaths were reported from Chamoli district alone, 31 from Rudraprayag district and five from Tehri district. Around 145 people have been rescued from the rubble in Chamoli district, officials said. Air Force helicopters dropped food packets over many of the badly-affected and far-flung villages throughout the day. Relief camps have been set up in Chamoli and Gopeshwar. Nineteen seriously injured persons are being treated at a local hospital because they are in no condition to be shifted immediately, officials said.
Hindustan Times (March 31, 1999) Though the official figures of the casualties caused by the massive earthquake that devastated large parts of north India in the early hours of Monday has been put at 85 dead and 130 wounded, the actual number is likely to be higher. The under-reporting of casualties, both dead and wounded, as well as the number of houses demolished or damaged was inevitable owing to the remoteness of many of the central Himalayan villages where the impact of the tremors was most severe. The earthquake had its epicentre in the Garhwal area which is relatively more prone to such disasters in view of its unstable geological nature. However, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, it could have resulted in a bigger tragedy had its epicentre been closer to the ground and not 30 km deep. That also explains the fact that the extent of damage to buildings was more compared to the human casualties. It is not just the quality of houses or building material that is important. Prescribing building norms for the hilly areas - as has been suggested - will mean yet another exercise on paper. The basic problem is that this region is among the most backward in an endemically backward state. The physical and economic infrastructure in the hilly districts is primitive and the vast majority of the people are extremely poor. Unless one takes a more comprehensive view of the problems of poverty, merely seeking to improve the quality of the houses to make them resistant to earthquakes can be another case of misspent resources. Monday's tragedy is also bound to focus attention on the Tehri dam controversy. After the Rudraprayag quake of 1991, this is the second major disaster in less than a decade. Both cases underlined the seismically vulnerable nature of the central Himalayan region, which is among the youngest mountain ranges in the world. As demanded by several academics and scientists, the government should consider ordering a fresh examination of the safety aspects of the dam by an independent team of experts. Monday's disaster should be regarded as a warning in this context, which should be heeded before it is too late.
Date: 31-03-1999 :: Pg: 12 :: Col: b (The Hindu) THE HUGE TOLL of lives - with more than 100 killed and well over 300 injured - taken by the devastating earthquake which rocked Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts in Uttar Pradesh is a grim demonstration of how this region remains vulnerable to the ravages of a natural disaster. The rest of the country - the Governments at the Centre and in the States as also voluntary relief organisations - should get down to the task of rushing relief to the stricken people in as many ways as it could. The Army and the Air Force, which have a record of providing the quickly-needed relief to the victims of natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes, have got down to the present task of a staggering magnitude. The destruction of as many as 90 per cent of the houses in Chamoli district and house collapses on a much larger scale project the tragedy in all its dreadfulness. The massive devastation makes it imperative that the relief operations be herculean since even with the best will in the world it would take several months before the surviving victims restart their lives with all the fortitude which this calls for while having to live with the lingering, painful memories of the dear ones lost and the houses which have been reduced to rubble. The ferocity of the earthquake could be seen from its having been felt even in far-away Pune. Earthquakes of varying intensity have been repeatedly causing extensive misery in Uttar Pradesh and the Himalayan region over the long stretch from Delhi to the remote areas of U.P. The Himalayan neighbourhood has been seismically alive because of an ``active fault'' (subterranean fissures) which runs through the Moradabad-Mathura region and adjoining territory. Of considerable geological interest here is that the region has been hit by landslips, one of which killed well over 200 at Malpa village in Pithorgarh district in August last. While the earthquake as a calamity is different from the landslip, both manifest themselves in the same arena which is the earth. The earthquakes result from tectonic movements activated by fault lines. The landslip is the sliding down of huge masses of land, becoming unsettled after torrential rainfall and floods. Emerging suddenly as a barrier on highways linking the far-flung areas of the country, the landslip rains tonnes of sand and rock on heavily-populated regions, leaving a huge death toll. The steadily growing knowledge of tectonic movements among geologists has made earthquake prediction possible, enabling quick evacuation of the residents from areas threatened by the anticipated catastrophe. The 2,400-km long Himalayan ``arc'' is known to be subject to an unceasing succession of disastrous, overthrusting subterranean movements erupting into recurring earthquakes. Every effort should be made by geologists and engineers to press into service the technology which is now available for making structures earthquake-resistant. Japan took the lead long ago. In the case of landslips, the sliding of sand and rock after their having become weak is directly attributable to the environmental vandalism in the destruction of forests. The once-hardy landscape, rendered wholly defenceless against the rush of rivers in spate because of the destruction of deep-rooted trees which could have braked them, can no longer ensure against recurring landslips. The cruel irony is that while the country's rain-starved regions are becoming parched, heavy rains wash away the rich topsoil elsewhere because of the ecological savagery.
A quake-hit town awaits relief Date: 31-03-1999 :: Pg: 10 :: Col: d PIPAL KOTI (Chamoli), March 30 (The Hindu) As Chamoli, one of the worst quake-hit town, has suddenly become the focal point for worldwide media attention amid VIP visits, a neighbouring township, Pipal Koti, some 15 km from Chamoli, awaits the first relief. Though there have been only two casualties here, almost all the houses have developed wide cracks in Sunday's quake. ``Pipal Koti, the traffic point for tourists visiting Badrinath and Auli skiing centre, is not a distant village but a small town right on the road head. If this is the situation here what about other villages,'' asked Sajjan, an employee at a private boarding house here. A Block Development Officer, the lone Government official to visit this place after villagers marched to Chamoli town and `gheraoed' district officials, offered Rs. 200 each as relief per damaged house which the furious residents refused to accept, Atul Shah, a local resident told PTI. A harried Sajjan wondered how he would undertake repairs on his lodge as Badrinath Yatra begins on April 27 and this township usually does brisk business during the season. Pipal Koti is not the only village ignored by the media and authorities alike, but there are several other adjoining villages where partially damaged houses are not fit for living and residents are camping in fields due to lack of tents. Reports of a man-eating leopard on the prowl in these areas have further frightened people as only a week back a girl child was killed by one. When contacted, the Chamoli District Magistrate, Mr. Umakanth Panwar, said since there was a high number of casualties and injuries in Chamoli township it was the main focus of the rescue operation. However, he said all possible help was being extended to the villages adjoining the district through helicopters and other means. No Government offical had visited another village, Shetrapal, some two km from Chamoli and one-and-half km above the road head. ``All cattle sheds have collapsed here and several cattle have died and we do not know when another quake would hit the region,'' said 61-year old Manohari Devi whose house has caved in. ``Most mediapersons have left Chamoli town this evening, what to talk of this village'' asked an ITBP Jawan, who is vacationing in his home town. Syur, Bimaru, Bhat, Dadola, Bayani, Buniala, Raitoli, Hat and Jaishal are some other other villages, 3 to 12 km from Chamoli, unvisited by authorities. The neglect claimed in some areas notwithstanding, the Army has launched relief operations in coordination with civil authorities to provide succour to the quake victims of Chamoli and surrounding areas. A medical aid post has been established at Chamoli while Army columns are busy recovering bodies and remains from the debris, a defence release released in New Delhi said.
Experts differ on depth of focus of quake Date: 31-03-1999 :: Pg: 10 :: Col: f NEW DELHI, March 30 (The Hindu) Experts have differed on the exact magnitude and depth of focus of Sunday night's quake at Chamoli in Uttar Pradesh. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has recorded a 6.8 magnitude on the Richter scale and a depth at 33 km. But a scientist from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad says data from 23 global seismic stations set up by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale and a depth at 12 km. The IMD Deputy Director-General, Dr. s. N. Bhattacharyya, said the 0.2 difference on the Richter scale reading did not matter much and the ``discrepancy may be ignored.'' According to him, the depth of focus worked out by the U.S. scientists was also 33 km, tallying with the IMD recordings. But Mr. Janardhan Negi, scientist emeritus at the NGRI, said the U.S. Geological Survey had reported a 12 km depth, using an analytical method called ``invert solution'' or ``moment tensile of solution'' of the 23 stations' data. Mr. Negi said with the U.S. recordings indicated the Chamoli quake was identical to the Uttarkashi quake which had recorded a magnitude of 6.6 on the Richter scale and a depth of 12 km. ``The physics behind the two quakes appears to be identical,'' as they involved the same region (Garhwal-Kumaon), and had similar magnitude and depths, he said. The depth tallied with the general theory that during these quakes, movement and breaking of the brittle upper crust of the earth was involved, he said. Scientists leave for Chamoli Experts from five leading scientific organisations engaged in earthquake studies have left for Chamoli to carry out field surveys on the nature of damage. The scientists are also installing temporary seismic stations to monitor the aftershocks. They are from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) in Dehra dun, the Indian Meteorological Department, the University of Roorkee, the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Geological Survey of India. In addition, the NGRI is setting up four digital seismic stations to undertake some unique geophysical investigations such as magnetotellurics (study of earth currents due to magnetic fields) and helium emission studies, an official release said. Such studies proved useful in understanding the origins of the Latur earthquake in 1993. The Chamoli region has been installed with sufficient instruments for earthquake studies. The WIHG, the IMD and the Roorkee University are operating a number of seismic stations in that region. The source of the Chamoli quake will be determined after data analysis. Important data on peak ground acceleration and its decrease with distance from the epicentre will be analysed after obtaining the data, to help evolve better zonal building codes. The release said available reports indicated no damage to the Tehri dam structure, which was near the epicentre of the Chamoli quake. Also, the ``thrust'' kind of faults present in the Himalayan mountain range are not conducive for reservoir-induced earthquakes, which occur mostly along two types of fault movement known as ``normal'' and ``strike slip'', it said. Reservoir-induced earthquakes are known to have occurred at over 100 sites globally. Except at four places, these earthquakes did not exceed the magnitude of 5.0 on the Richter scale.
Date: 31-03-1999 :: Pg: 11 :: Col: a CHAMOLI, March 30 (The Hindu) Id-ul-Azha, symbolising sacrifice, will never be the same again for 50-year-old barber Ali Hassan. Hours ahead of the dawn that heralded the Id celebrations, his daughter perished in the devastating earthquake that rocked Chamoli district of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Yet for Hassan, life must go on as much for himself as for others as he joins rescue workers in sifting debris looking for possible survivors or dead. At sunset, the grief-stricken father goes down on his knees in prayer, along with other members of the 60-odd Muslim families in a nearby village. For 45-year-old goldsmith Amil Sony, however, life is as grey and still as the early morning mist that hung over the distant mountains as the smoke rose from the flames that consumed the mortal remains of his wife, son and in-laws who were claimed by the quake. ``I cremated all the four today,'' muttered Sony who had come from Bihar 15 years ago. Next moment, he broke into hysterical sobs. The wailing of men, women and children wandering through flattened houses and grieving for their near and dear ones rent the air of Chamoli which has been reduced to a ghost town by the quake. Ashatha lal and his wife from Tifara village survived the tremor only to grieve for their five children aged between five and 20 who perished in the quake. The wife has been suffering periodical fits since the fateful night of March 28. ``Why didn't nature's fury finish both of us also? It has been too cruel. What is the meaning of relief, rescue and life itself to us,'' said Ashatha lal. A huge block of denuded land stands witness to the magnitude of the jolt that brought the top of a mountain crashing two kilometres down. Chamoli, a hamlet of about 100-odd houses with over 1500 residents nestling on the banks of the Alaknanda, today presents a scene of devastated walls, collapsed roofs and badly damaged civic amenities. Most of the residents have their limbs in bandages. Roads have been very badly damaged at various places disrupting links with some of the quake-hit villages where the helpless survivors still await relief. Three Air Force helicopters have been put into service to drop food packets in such inaccesible places. Water supply hit The landslips triggered by the quake have interfered with natural water sources besides damaging pipelines carrying potable water in the worst-hit districts of Chamoli and Rudraprayag. Pipelines passing through the affected region had been choked by the landslips, which had also dislocated huge boulders from the Rudranath mountain causing numerous tributaries of the Alaknanda to change course, official sources said. In Rudraprayag district, water sources had run dry at some places as a result of the havoc caused by the earthquake and the intense heat during the day. Despite the Army pressing into service 10 tankers in the area, water continued to be scarce and long queues were seen before the tankers even as Army engineers were working overtime to repair damaged pipelines. In some areas of Chamoli district, potable water supply had been partially restored. In Rudraprayag, the worst-hit villages are Kunja, Makku, Pingla Pani, Dhankot, Bissau and Akhori. Landslips had also caused road blocks at many points on the Srinagar-Chamoli route, but in some places the obstructions had been cleared by now. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Kalyan Singh, who visited the quake-struck areas said more water tankers were being pressed into service and that most of the pipelines would be repaired by tomorrow evening. He also appealed to NGOs and other social organisations to extend a helping hand in rendering relief to the affected people.
Fresh tremors in Garhwal; rescue efforts continue Centre announces relief package Times of India News Service (March 31, 1999) CHAMOLI/NEW DELHI: The Garhwal region, already devastated by an earthquake that claimed 100 lives and left hundreds injured, was rocked by fresh tremors on Tuesday morning. The mild tremors, measuring less than four on the Richter scale, did not last very long, officials said. While they put the toll at 100, unofficial sources said it might be much higher as many quake-hit areas were still inaccessible and the rescue teams had not reached there. Relief operations continued throughout the day and bodies of many victims were cremated. The state government has already sanctioned Rs 3 crore as relief. Air Force helicopters dropped food packets and evacuated stranded people from remote villages rendered inaccessible due to landslides and damaged roads. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, accompanied by state minister for hill development Ramesh Chandra Pokhriyal and Garhwal MP B.C. Khanduri, toured some affected areas during the day. Mr Khanduri told The Times of India News Service that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee may visit the affected areas. Planning commission deputy chairman K.C. Pant and Union minister of state for agriculture Sompal will also visit the area, he added. The chief minister visited Bhatwari Sonar village in Rudraprayag and some villages in Chamoli. Villagers complained that the pace of relief work was very slow. However, Rudraprayag district magistrate Dharam Singh said: ``We have done all that we can do till now... we have disbursed some money and divided the affected areas in sectors for further relief work.'' Contesting his claim, BJP leader Chandra Prakash Lakhera said very meagre relief has been given, that too only after the arrival of the chief minister. Similar charges were levelled by the local Congress leaders. ``We require tents, rations and medicare to begin with,'' said Shaila Rani Rawat, pramukh of Chettra panchayat, Augustmuni. She demanded that relief materials should be disbursed through gram pradhans and public representatives. ``Not only rains and forest fires, but man-eating leopards also pose grave danger to the unprotected villagers living under open skies,'' said another villager Madanand Bhatt. In most areas, the people were gloomy and most of them were reluctant to talk. ``What can they say. They are only hoping for a better tomorrow,'' said Prakash Rawat of the Dasholi gram sabha of Gopeshwar, which is headed by environmentalist C.P. Bhatt. Meanwhile, the Union government has announced a relief package for the affected people. After a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the cabinet decided that Rs 1 lakh each would be paid to the families of the victims (killed in the quake) who were earning members. The next of kin of the non-earning victims (killed in the quake) would be paid Rs 50,000, minister for information and broadcasting Pramod Mahajan said in New Delhi after the meeting. The money would be paid from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, Mr Mahajan told reporters. In the worst-hit Chamoli district, 95 per cent of the structures, including the district hospital, jail, and several police barracks, besides dozens of houses, were badly damaged, the officials said. In some areas, authorities have advised the people against returning to the houses which may have survived the brunt of the disaster but could be unsafe. As such, most residents spent the night in make-shift shelters. The PWD has taken up the task of repairing roads to restore the snapped communication. The three main roads - Gopeshwar-Chamoli, Karnprayag-Gharoli and Rudraprayag-Gaurikund - damaged in the quake have been cleared, while work on the Gopeshwar-Ukhimath road was continuing, the officials said. Commissioner of Garhwal division B.M. Vohra said while the final estimate of losses would be ascertained at a later stage, initial indications were that 100,000 people have been affected by the quake. At least 700 houses were damaged in Tehri while in Rudraprayag the number was over 6,000, Mr Vohra said.
Survivors brave elements, maneaters Times of India News Service (March 31, 1999) By R.P. Nailwal RUDRAPRAYAG: With the quake having rendered them homeless, the survivors now have to sleep in the open - one of their main worries is the maneater leopards known to frequent these parts. Villagers of Bhatwari Sonar in Agustmuni block and Shison in Jakholi block said they were worried about maneaters. After surviving the night, they wake up next morning only to worry about how to pick up the threads of their lives now. While relief work has started in the quake-hit areas, these villagers have got nothing much except some money or plastic sheets for makeshift shelters. The money can't buy them much and the plastic is no protection against the chilly winds. Most houses in the villages have been flattened by the quake, reminding one of what some Garhwal areas looked like after the 1991 quake. Loss of dwelling place is just one of the multitude of problems being faced by the quake-affected people, others equally worrisome being loss of livelihood and fending for the family. For 70-year-old Gabar Singh of Bhatwari Sonar village the main worries are his two grand-daughters - aged 15 and 11. He has been looking after them for some years now after their father died. Other members of his family have died in the quake. ``What will I do now?'' the old man said, obviously dazed by the disaster. His neighbour Mohan Singh was fortunate. He and his entire family survived the quake. That fateful night they were all huddled together in one of the rooms of the house watching a late night Hindi film on the television. The rest of the house collapsed but for that room. But Mohan Singh has also to now sleep out with his family under the sky like other survivors from the 65 families living in Bhatwari Sonar village which falls on the pilgrim route to Kedarnath. Some of these families and those of the Shison village are now hoping that their relatives working outside the region would help them. ``They will come soon,'' said a youngster, adding, ``perhaps their return will make life a little easier.'' The relief operations haven't been of much help. In fact, some of the villagers here were quite upset. Vijay Biswas, who had just returned from the hospital in Srinagar (of Garhwal region) said: ``The administration has done very little even a day now after the quake.'' He said: ``The government is making the same mistakes that they did earlier after the Malpa landslide tragedy.'' Relief measures and compensation packages have not reached some of the victims yet and they continue to struggle reportedly. To buttress his argument, Vijay said the village has been visited only by the policemen so far. ``Not the relief workers,'' he added. ``We need immediate relief and the government should do something promptly,'' said another resident of this village, Madan Singh. Some other villagers just refused to speak, insisting they be left alone.
Centre should study causes of calamities in hills: Kalyan Times of India News Service (March 31, 1999) CHAMOLI: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Tuesday said the central government should study the causes of calamities like earthquakes in hilly areas and initiate steps to mitigate the suffering caused by such disasters. He would meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in this connection shortly, Mr Kalyan Singh told reporters at the helipad on his arrival here to personally monitor the rescue and relief operations launched in the wake of Sunday's night earthquake in the Garhwal region. About complaints of quake victims that relief operations were lackadaisical, Mr Singh said that was precisely the reason why he had come to personally monitor the operations. Hill development minister Ramesh Pokhariyal said Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission K C Pant would visit the quake-hit areas on Wednesday. Meanwhile, home department officials said of the over 100 deaths in the quake, 61 were in Chamoli district, 34 in Rudraprayag and five in Tehri district. Pokhariyal said so far 56 bodies had been extricated in Chamoli and 34 in Rudraprayag. He did not, however, rule out the chances of more bodies being recovered from far-flung villages in the region rendered inaccessible following the quake. Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director-general Gautam Koul said paramilitary forces had provided 200 tents to house people who had lost their houses in the quake. Airforce choppers would drop 4,000 food packets on Tuesday, officials said. The three main roads - Gopeshwar-Chamoli, Karnprayag- Gharoli and Rudraprayag-Gaurikund - damaged in the quake have been cleared, while Gopeshwar-Ukhimath Road was expected to be opened later on Tuesday, officials said. (PTI)
Quake's effect was equal to H-bomb blast By Srinivasa Prasad Times of India News Service (March 31, 1999) BANGALORE: Seismologists had expected an earthquake to hit northern India in the region of Uttarkashi, Darjeeling, northwestern Himalayas and the Nepal border. But not so soon. LEAD27.TIMs a long and a medium- term prediction but we didn't expect it to hit the region so soon,'' Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute's (NGRI) deputy director B.K. Rastogi told The Times of India. Sunday night's earthquake had an estimated intensity of 6.8 on the Richter scale according to the Indian Meteorological Department, 6.6 according to the United States Geological Survey and 6.5 by the NGRI. The effect was equivalent to the explosion of a H-bomb, Mr Rastogi said. This is the second major quake to hit the region. An earthquake with an intensity of 6.3 hit the region near Uttarkashi, only about 100 km from Chamoli and killed nearly 800 people on October 20, 1991. Scientists say that the quake is the result of the same geodynamic process that resulted in severe disturbances under the earth for many million years and a process that will last a few more million years. This process began nearly 40 million years ago when the Indian sub-continent, moving at a speed of 5 cm per year, hit the Asian landmass. The subcontinent is still moving northwards but at a reduced speed of about two centimetres a year. The landmass continues to put pressure on the Himalayas, making the land below highly susceptible to earthquakes. The continuing movement builds up so much pressure that it reaches a breaking point. A major earthquake then releases most of this accumulated pressure, moving the sub-continent closer to the Asian landmass. Mr Rastogi said that studies warned of one major earthquake every 200 years in the region. If the area is susceptible to earthquakes, what does the government do? Mr Rastogi said: ``Well, we have set up more observatories. There has been some improvement. But not enough.'' Scientists have often pointed out that while predicting the precise time and location of an earthquake is difficult yet, an immediate answer to the problem lies in designing safer structures in potential risk zones so that the damage to human life is minimal.
Quake death toll nears 100: Thousands of homes were completely destroyed Tuesday, March 30, 1999 Published at 21:12 GMT 22:12 UK Relief operations are gathering momentum in the remote region of northern India which was hit by a severe earthquake in the early hours of Monday. Nearly 100 people are now known to have died, almost all as houses collapsed during the earthquake which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. The 40-second quake, which was centred on Chamoli in Uttar Pradesh, was the strongest to hit the Himalayan foothills in more than 90 years. Officials fear the final death toll could climb much higher. Relief operation underway Rescue operations are being led by the army, using helicopters to ferry in supplies. Operations have been hampered by landslides, power failures and the loss of communication links with Chamoli. Hundreds of road workers have been sent in to clear landslide debris from a 16km stretch of road leading to the worst-affected area. "It looks like half the mountain has come off," said Chamoli district magistrate Uma Kant Pawar. With an estimated 5,000 homes destroyed by the earthquake, the military have set up tents for at least some of those made homeless. Many residents spent a second night in the open for fear of aftershocks. Local residents have organised a committee to see that those worst affected receive food, but the district is appealing for more funds from the state to help deal with the emergency. Families buried in rubble The BBC Correspondent in Chamoli, Mike Wooldridge, says the worst damage was localised, with virtually all the houses and shops built on slopes in the lower part of the town succumbing to the earthquake. Five members of one family of seven perished, including a girl of four, who slipped off her unconscious father's lap and into the rubble. Another man described how he picked among the debris of his house with a shovel throughout the night, only to find two buried relatives dead. The tremors caused panic as far away as Delhi, 190 miles (300km) south of the epicentre. Powerful tremors were felt in towns and cities throughout northern India, and also shook the western Indian city of Pune. Pakistani officials reported Monday's quake was also felt in Lahore and Gujranwala which lie close to the border with India. The officials said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a message of sympathy to his Indian opposite number Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Sombre Garhwalis get down to the task of clearing up REDIFF - March 30, 1999 A new stillness enveloped the Garhwal hills today as bodies were cremated and massive relief operations were in progress after the devastating earthquake on Sunday night killed as many as 110 people and injured 350 others. The debris of collapsed houses yielded 15 more bodies overnight in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts. Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan indicated in New Delhi that the toll could mount after rescue teams reach fresh areas affected by the quake. Unofficially, the toll was said to be as high as 200. Twenty-six bodies were cremated on the Alaknanda ghat near Alkapuri in Chamoli district last evening. The quake, which had a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale, had its epicentre at Nandprayag town in the district. Sixty-one persons were killed in Chamoli, 34 in Rudraprayag and six in Tehri Garhwal districts. At least 30 villages were devastated in Chamoli district alone. Jawans of the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police were assisting the civil administration in the rescue efforts. Seventeen medical teams, five of them in the rural areas, were treating the injured. Many of the injured were admitted to base hospitals in Srinagar. Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet today decided to release Rs100,000 to the kin of earning members who died in the quake, Rs50,000 for the kin of non-earning members killed, and Rs10,000 to those injured. Garhwal Divisional Commissioner B M Vohra said that as per present indications, about 100,000 persons have been affected by the quake. Nearly 750 houses were damaged in Tehri, 200 in Chamoli, and 2,000 in Rudraprayag district as per preliminary estimates. Chamoli Development Council president Anand Singh Rawat said most of the houses damaged were those not supported by columns. The Border Roads Organisation restored traffic on the Rudraprayag-Gurikund road this morning. Repair work on the Gopeshwar-Ukhimath road was in progress. The Centre today also decided to distribute food packets in the worst-hit areas. It also decided to send two teams -- under Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant and a senior official -- to assess the damage to life and property. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh visited Chamoli and Rudraprayag today to oversee rescue and relief work. He said a Rs210 million World Bank aided project for "eco-restoration and development of hill areas" would be unveiled to protect the fragile ecosystem of the region. Experts say the damage in the region could have been much higher had the epicentre been at a lesser depth. While the 1991 Uttarkashi quake, which claimed more than 1,500 lives, had its epicentre at a depth of 12km, this quake was centred 30km below the ground. Still, it was one of the strongest to rock the Himalayan foothills this century. It occurred because the Himalayas, the world's youngest mountain chain, is inching north towards the Eurasian plate at the rate of one to two inches a year. Pressure builds up over time and explodes in an earthquake. On Sunday, the main central thrust of the tension built up in the hills passing through Chamoli district, which sits at the heart of the lesser and higher Himalayas. UNI
Tremors will continue for some more days REDIFF - March 30, 1999 Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow Geological experts say that Monday's earthquake in Chamoli will continue to produce tremors for several more days. There is nothing unusual about the tremors that are being felt in the region even a day after the quake. "Both pre-shocks and aftershocks are a common phenomena in any earthquake of high magnitude," Geological Survey of India Deputy Director General Ravi Prakash told Rediff On The NeT, "There should be no cause for alarm because usually these are mild tremors without any kind of devastating potential." Prakash was answering queries about the panic among the people of Garhwal, which has received a series of tremors since the fateful night of March 28-29. The GSI has despatched at least seven teams to quake-hit areas. Meanwhile, reports reaching Lucknow confirmed that at least 110 human lives were lost, besides injuries to 338. Deaths and damage to property in other places besides Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Tehri, like Bageshwar in the Kumaon Himalayas and Pauri in Garhwal, have also been reported. Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Yogendra Narain does not rule out a higher toll. "The rescue and relief teams have yet to return. With most of the telecommunication network down in the hill region and in the absence of high-powered radio communication, the inflow of information is bound to be slow," he said. Explaining the miraculous absence of even a single death in Pauri, despite extensive damage to 1,149 houses, of which as many as 187 had completely collapsed, District Magistrate P K Sarangi said in a telephone interview, "A lot of the houses had already been deserted after the last monsoons when landslides had damaged or weakened many of the tenements. Besides, since the first tremor in Pauri at about 1235 hours was not as intense as what was felt in Chamoli, we had time to sent out a red alert and tell people to move to safer points." The fully-razed houses were the abandoned ones, he said.
REDIFF - March 30, 1999 Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow A high-intensity earthquake that rocked parts of north India late last night has taken a heavy toll in northern Uttar Pradesh. The toll in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts has gone up to 95, according to official reports. However, sources said the toll has touched 100. According to Chamoli Superintendent of Police Sridhar Pathak, "Fifty-nine bodies have been recovered, and medical teams spreading out in the hilly district have attended to over 100 injured people." In Rudraprayag, District Magistrate Dharam Singh reported 29 deaths and about the same number as being injured. All the injured have been admitted to the Chamoli hospital and the district hospital in adjoining Gopeshwar town. The condition of 10 injured persons is said to be serious. The rescue work has been hampered by reports of three major forest fires in the upper reaches, Pathak said. This had caused more panic in the neighbouring villages. Air force pilots involved in rescue operations have reported cracks in the upper mountains. Major damage has been caused to houses in Chamoli where, according to Chief Secretary Yogendra Narain, "nearly 80 per cent of the houses have collapsed". The toll is not likely to shoot up sharply, Narain said. According to him, houses in Chamoli had tin roofs while the houses in Uttarkashi, where a few hundred people died in a 1992 quake of higher intensity, had roofs of heavy slate. He said the clattering of the tin roofs warned the people who ran out; at Rudraprayag, where the roofs were made of slate, the residents heard nothing and stayed indoors. The SP fears many more deaths could be reported from there. Meanwhile, five relief teams have gone in different directions to reach villages not accessible by road. Since these teams are yet to report back, the damage there is yet to be assessed. Air force helicopters have been pressed into service and two army columns have moved in to assist the civil administration to rescue people. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police and personnel from the Border Roads Organisation have moved in to repair the breaches on several major roads connecting different towns in the region. Measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, this was the strongest quake in the seismically sensitive Himalayan foothills in 94 years. The last earthquake in Chamoli in 1996 measured 4.5 on the Richter scale while the one that rocked neighbouring Uttarkashi five years ago had registered 6.5. "Fortunately, this is not the pilgrim season. Otherwise Hindu devotees who throng the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines in the upper reaches of Chamoli district would have died in large numbers," Narain said. The first tremor was felt across north India, including Lucknow and New Delhi, at about 1240 hours IST. But Chamoli has experienced many shocks thereafter. Pathak told Rediff On The NeT, "I have myself counted as many as 22 tremors." But the chief secretary said the later tremors were milder, measuring between 2 and 4.9 on the Richter scale. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, who convened a meeting of top officials at his residence in Lucknow, said, "We have ordered that relief measures be taken up on a war-footing; cash compensation has also been ordered.'' Experts felt the devastating earthquake was not unexpected. ''After all, Chamoli falls in the seismic Himalayan zone,'' said Dr A K Tangri, senior scientist at the Lucknow-based Remote Sensing Application Centre. "The affected area falls exactly along the main central thrust area that runs from Uttarkashi in north-western Garhwal and drifts south-eastwards via Joshimath and Helang right up to Pithoragarh in the Kumaon Himalayas." Attributing the earthquake to the geological movements inside the earth's crust, he explained how the northward movement of the Indian Plate under the Eurasian Plate has been causing earthquakes in the region. "It was this movement, which began nearly 200 million years ago as a result of the collision between the two plates, that gave rise to the Himalayas some 40 million years ago," he pointed out. The quake was apparently caused by a fracture in the Indian Plate some 10 million years ago. "While seismic movements north of this thrust have stabilised over the centuries, pressure is still being exerted from the southern side, making this one of the weakest zones in the Himalayas," he said.
Seismologists find UP quake extraordinary REDIFF - March 30, 1999 Pradip K Bagchi in New Delhi Seismologists are concerned over the frequency at which the earth has quaked in the Himalayan region. Prior to last night's earthquake in Uttar Pradesh's Chamoli district, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, Uttarkashi experienced a devastating quake on October 20, 1991. It measured 6.6, and led to massive loss of life and property. ''In seismically active areas, a quake measuring more than 6.5 may occur once in 20 years, and that measuring six once in 10 years,'' said Dr H N Srivastava, emeritus scientist in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. According to a statistical analysis which Dr Srivastava and CSIR Director (seismology) R S Dattatreya carried out in 1986, a quake measuring more than seven on the Richter scale may occur in a particular area once in 40 years and more than eight only once in 200 years. ''In a terrain like the Himalayan region, the intensity decreases at a much faster rate with distance than in the plains. The rapid attenuation at low frequency implies that only high rock-filled dams should be constructed in these areas,'' Dr Srivastava said. What makes the Himalayan region quake-prone is the north and northeastern movement of the Indian Plate at the rate of about 5 centimetres per year and its collision with the Eurasian Plate, which is relatively stationary. The movement gives rise to accumulation of stress. As it exceeds the bearing capacity of the rocks, quakes occur due to rock-slippage. There are two fault lines passing across the Himalayan region - the main central thrust and main boundary fault. Chamoli and Uttarkashi fall on the MCT while the MBF passes through Shimla-Dehra Dun-Almora. The entire area falling on or between the MCT and MBF is seismological very active. On the basis of seismic activity, India has been divided into five zones. Chamoli district falls under zone V, the most seismically active region where earthquakes of magnitude 8 or more could occur, said Dr Bhattacharya, deputy director general (seismology) in the meteorological department. India's seismic map shows the entire north-eastern region, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kutch in Gujarat, Kangra in Himachal Pradesh and areas around Jammu falling under zone V. A recent study by Dr Srivastava and Dr Bhattacharya shows that the occurrence of quakes in the Himalayan region is 'very chaotic' and could not be predicted on a long-term basis. "A detailed study is required to know how the slip occurred in Chamoli and the exact fault line,'' said Dr Bhattacharya, who plans to visit the affected area. He described Monday's quake as 'significant', but added that the loss of life and property was comparatively less as the area has lower density of population. Earthquakes are classified as 'very great' (magnitude of 8 or more on the Richter scale), 'great' (7 to 7.9), 'moderate' (5 to 6.9) and 'slight' (up to 4.9). UNI
Himalayan quakes devastate larger areas: expert REDIFF - March 30, 1999 Shireen in Hyderabad Eminent seismologist B K Rastogi of the Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute said that Monday's earthquake was one of the major quakes to hit the Himalayan foothills in recent times. Dr Rastogi said that the NGRI's seismological observatory recorded the earthquake with its epicentre near Chamoli in the Garhwal Himalayas early this morning. According to the NGRI, the earthquake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale. The Indian meteorological department observatory, however, has put it at 6.8. Chamoli is about 100 kilometres south-east of Uttarkashi which was struck by a major earthquake on October 20, 1991. Measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, it had claimed around 2,000 lives. "We do not know about the casualties. Since Chamoli has thickly populated areas with some big towns, the toll could be more," said Dr Rastogi. "We do not know if any landslides were triggered by the quake. Normally, landslides occur simultaneously with a quake,'' he said. As for the Tehri dam, which is located 100 kilometres south-west of the present earthquake's epicentre, the expert foresaw no danger to the structure. ''It is quite well designed and nothing may happen even if bigger quakes hit the region," he said. According to him, there has been a lot of seismic activity in the region. In the last eight years, 11 earthquakes of the magnitude of six on the Richter scale have occurred in this region. Forty major earthquakes have been recorded in the region in the last 100 years. The Himalayan region has also witnessed four 'great' (with the magnitude of 7 to 7.9 on the Richter scale) earthquakes in the last 102 years. These are: in the Assam-Meghalaya plateau in 1897, the Kanga region in 1904, the Bihar-Nepal area in 1934 and the North-East, along the Sino-Indian border, in 1950. There is no doubt that it is the most sensitive seismic zone, with minor tremors occurring all the time in the region. ''As the northern movement of the Indian Plate subducts at the rate of two centimetres per year, the Himalayas have been rising by one centimetre annually. The quakes occur along the subducting surface. The damage occurs in a wider area and is not confined to a small circle around the epicentre. ''For instance, in the case of the Latur earthquake which occurred on September 30, 1993, major damage was confined to a 15-kilometre radius since it was a shallow quake -- 2.8 km deep. About 10,000 people died in that quake. But in the case of quakes in the Himalayan region, the damage is normally spread over a 100-kilometre radius as these quakes have depths of 10 to 20 kilometres.''
Quakes are unpredictable, says expert REDIFF - March 30, 1999 Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi Despite advances in seismic studies, there is no way an earthquake can be predicted, according to Dr S C Shukla, director, seismology department of the Indian Meteorological Department. Commenting on last midnight's earthquake, which violently rocked the capital and caused residents to run out into the streets, Dr Shukla said its epicentre lay in the Chamoli region of the hills of west Uttar Pradesh. The quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and was of "moderate" intensity. Its epicentre was located at latitude 38.2 North and longitude 79.5 East. Its depth was 30km, Shukla said. He said Chamoli and the north-eastern states are greatly earthquake-prone. Earthquakes the department has monitored included one registered on December 11, 1958, (6.0) and another on October 19, 1991, which registered 6.5. He said that while seismologists all over the world know that earthquakes erupt in high-intensity areas (like in Japan and in California in the United States), there is no foolproof way to predict an earthquake. "That is very difficult to predict because seismologists still don't have the technology for it," Shukla said. Shukla's department monitored 27 after-shocks following the quake. He said the after-shocks could continue for as long as three weeks, maybe even a month. Stressing that Delhi is a high-intensity seismic area, Shukla did not discount the possibility of a more severe earthquake. By severe, he meant a quake measuring up to 8.0 on the Richter scale. Apart from the hilly regions of Uttar Pradesh and the North-East, Shukla said certain parts of Madhya Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar islands are also prone to earthquakes. He said that though there are no hard and fast rules for people to follow to avoid injury during quakes, it is better to reach open spaces, like fields. People should leave high-rise apartments if a quake lasts more than 5-10 seconds, he suggested.
Quake epicentre was in the UP hills REDIFF - March 30, 1999 The earthquake that hit northern India last night and claimed nearly 40 lives in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts of Uttar Pradesh measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. Officials of the Seismological Survey of India said that the latitude of the quake was 30.2 degrees north and the longitude was 79.5 degrees east. The epicentre of the quake was somewhere in the Uttar Pradesh hills. The tremor that hit at 0035 hours last night lasted 30 seconds. Several aftershocks of lesser intensity were felt following the first tremor. The intensity of last night's quake was more than the ones felt in Jabalpur (6), Latur (6.3) and Uttarkashi (6.6) in recent times which had claimed hundreds of lives and left thousands injured. Last night's quake occurred in the 'zone 5' of the country, which is classified as 'very quake-prone'. UNI
Death toll rising in northern India earthquake March 29, 1999 Web posted at: 11:25 a.m. EST (1625 GMT) CHAMOLI, India (CNN) -- The strongest earthquake to hit a quake-prone region of India this century rumbled through the Himalayan foothills before dawn Monday, killing at least 87 people. India's seismological department said the quake registered a magnitude of 6.8, strong enough to be labeled "severe and damaging." The tremor lasted 40 seconds, and aftershocks continued throughout the day. "We were watching a Hindi movie on television when chairs, wardrobes and beds started toppling over," said Uma Kant Pawar, district manager of the town of Chamoli, near the quake's epicenter. "Before we could realize what was happening, the electricity went off and the whole area plunged into darkness." The quake's center was in a remote region of the Kumaon hills in the northern state Uttar Pradesh, about 185 miles (295 kilometers) northeast of New Delhi. Rescue efforts were hampered by a breakdown of communications links and landslides that buried some roads into the region. But debris was being cleared from those roads, and some aid was flown in via helicopter. Still, many people in the area were without water, food and electricity Monday. Officials in Chamoli said about 170 houses had collapsed there, and the walls of a local hospital caved in. Fifty-eight of the dead were found in Chamoli, and another 27 in neighboring Rudraprayag. The quake's effects were felt as far away as New Delhi. Officials expect the death toll to rise, but it is unlikely to approach the 1,600 people killed by a 1991 quake in the Uttarkashi region of Uttar Pradesh. That quake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale. "Casualties would be relatively low because the houses had tin roofs, unlike Uttarkashi, where roofs were made of rocks and cement," said an official in Lucknow, the state capital. Earthquakes are relatively common in Uttar Pradesh because of the gradual shifting of tectonic plates beneath the geologically young Himalayan range. "The Indian plate is moving in the north and northeast direction and is colliding with the Tibetan plate, with a thrust developing at the foothills of Uttar Pradesh," said S.K. Srivastava, a senior official at the Indian Meteorological Department.
Overnight, Chamoli turns a ghost town Chamoli, March 29 (Harish Chandola) Thousands of roofless houses, walls with ghastly, spiderweb-like cracks and collective claustrophobia that has forced people out on to the streets are grim reminders of the devastation caused by the massive earthquake that hit the Garhwal region shortly after midnight. The affected areas present a mind-numbing sight. As I drove down from Joshimath this morning, I found to my horror that many roads that had caved in, leaving yawning gaps. The road to Badrinath, along which the boundary thrust fault runs, was initially inaccessible because of heavy landslides. It was reopened after a remarkably swift operation by the Border Roads Organisation. Chamoli wears the look of ghost town. Most houses with stone roofs have been flattened, trapping many people under the debris. The main tremor was followed by over 40 aftershocks of varying intensity, some occurring as lately as this evening. I felt the ground under my feet shudder many more times than I could care to count. It is a very eerie feeling, only marginally mitigated by the fact that it was day and not night. Upper floors of houses were cast many feet away by the earthquake. Shell-shocked residents continued to look for loved ones who have gone missing. Villages on end bore a mortuary-like silence, broken only by the wailing of people who had lost their dear ones. The shower of boulders displaced by the quake continued to litter many roads. To survey the devastation, I had to walk for long stretches because of the inaccessibility of many roads. There was scarcely a village that was untouched by the calamity. I saw bodies that were extricated from the debris in villages Gulabkoti, Pakhi, Dipalkoti and Tilfara. I saw a column of the Army moving from Joshimath, which is some 40 km from Chamoli, moving in for rescue and rehabilitation operations. I also spotted Air Force helicopters flying low sorties, apparently to assess the extent of the damage and help plan relief work. Road links between Chamoli and Gopeshwar, Gopeshwar and Ukhimath and Karnprayag and Almora were gravely disrupted by landslides and cave-ins. It could be a while, I suspect, before many of the roads become motorable. What is worrying is that relief operations are bound to suffer greatly because of the inaccessibility of roads. Villagers recounted how they were jolted out of their wits by the intensity of the earthquake and how their problems were compounded by the snapping of electricity lines. Most of the people who lost their near and dear ones, and homes are naturally benumbed by the magnitude of the tragedy. The telephone numbers of the control rooms are: Chamoli: (01372) 52102, 52320, Joshimath: (01389) 22128, 22109, State Home Department: (0522) 237330 237332, 237343, 237676.
88 killed as major quake rocks N. India Rudraprayag & Lucknow, March 29 (Gaurav Kala and Sunita Aron) An earthquake that measured 6.8 on the Richter scale heavily devastated Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts in the Garhwal division of the UP hills shortly after midnight yesterday. Hundreds are feared dead. Eighty eight bodies have been recovered so far. The epicentre of the earthquake was in Nandprayag town of Chamoli district. The Army and the Air Force are assisting the local administration in relief operations. Mild tremors, measuring between 2 and 4.9 on the Richter, continued to rock the area till late this evening. On the last count, at least 22 significant tremors have rumbled through the area since the two that caused the major devastation. According to the reports available here, three major forest fires were sparked by rock friction in the wake of the quake. State Chief Secretary Yogendra Narain told newsmen late in the evening that the jawans of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Borders Road Organisation are at work, clearing the crucial Rudraprayag-Gaurikund arterial road. As many as 59 bodies have been recovered from Chamoli district which include 36 from Chamoli town, five from Gopeshwar, four from Jakhanli and three from Joshimath. Most of the victims died in their sleep in the house collapse incidents. Over 90 per cent of houses in Chamoli town have been badly damaged. The dead include about a dozen prisoners lodged in Chamoli district jail, though the Chief Secretary could not confirm it. Devastation is equally acute in Rudraprayag district which was hit by the worst ever landslides in August 1998. Of the 29 bodies recovered from Rudraprayag, 17 are from Ukhimath and remaining 12 from Rudraprayag town. Rudraprayag was carved out as an independent district over a year ago. This is the second major natural disaster in the Garhwal hills in the last six months. Landslides in Okhimath in Rudraprayag and Malpa in the second week of August 1998 had left hundreds dead. According to the reports the first tremor was felt right across North India at about 12.40 a.m. But Chamoli experienced repeated shocks in quick succession. S.Lekhani, a resident of the worst-affected area Chamoli , is in Srinagar hospital. According to him , at 12.30 am he felt the first tremor. The shelves started shaking. Soon his three storeyed house, crumbled on him and he was buried in the rubble. It was three hours before he was rescued His six-month-old daughter sleeping next to him too was rescued. Panic also claimed several victims in Srinagar. Yashoda Devi jumped from her first floor house. She is also in Srinagar hospital. Badri Prasad Pokhrial, a shopkeeper in Rudraprayag, said that no one slept a wink after they were jolted out of their beds. Many buildings in Srinagar and Rudrapryag have been damaged.
Quake proves landmass still moving northwards: Experts By R P Nailwal The Times of India News Service (March 30, 1999) DEHRA DUN: Sunday night's quake that centred in the central Himalayan region bears proof of the continuing northward movement of the Indian landmass since it rammed into Eurasia 80 million years years ago, according to scientists of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) here. The movement, though considerably slower now, continues, building tremendous stresses within the Earth's crust. This, say seismologists, is relieved periodically by quakes along the the numerous ``faults'' (geological fractures in the Earth's crust), making the area quake-prone. A team of the institute is leaving for Chamoli on Tuesday to prepare a isoseismal map of the region to show exact intensity rating - quake intensity has 12 scales known as the ``Modified Mercalli''. ``The depth of focus of this quake was some 30 km below the earth's surface, so there was not much damage like the last time in October 1991 when so many people were killed in Uttarkashi and Tehri area,'' said WHIG chief V C Thakur, adding: ``The last time, the depth of the intensity was only 18 km.'' Geologists attribute the increasing quake incidence in this region to plate boundary thrust between the Indian shield and the Himalayas. About 80 million years ago, India was located some 6,400 km south of the Asian continent and was moving northwards at the rate of nine metres a century. Though the speed may have slowed after the Great Crash, the Indian mass continues to push northwards. Himalayas, the product of the crash, remains geologically vulnerable and at the centre of it. ``This quake is in the seismic belt between higher and lower Himalayas and is taking place in the main central thrust,'' said Mr Thakur. However, Devendra Pal of WIHG had earlier attributed the sudden spurt in the tremors in the sub-Himalayan region to neo-tectonic activity along the underground ``Delhi-Hardwar-Harsil ridge''. Mr Pal was not available for comments on Monday. In the past 200 years, there have been several tremors in the Uttarakhand belt but most severe were four - in 1803, 1905, 1988 and 1991 - which were all above six points on the Richter scale. But quakes of plus-eight magnitude are also known to have struck the Himalayan foothills in 1897, 1904 and 1950. These were not necessarily confined to the Uttarakhand Himalayas. ``But this one, the latest, was definitely an unusual occurrence taking place so soon after the last in 1991,'' observed Mr Thakur. ``Recurring interval is normally fairly longer,'' he added. In fact, Mr Thakur said there was a general consensus among the scientists studying the Himalayan quake pattern that there would be more severe tremors in the vicinity of eight-plus intensity in the future and the impact on the booming population would be manifold.
Survivors describe a `night of horror' By D S Kunwar The Times of India News Service (March 30, 1999) MEERUT: The survivors of Sunday night's earthquake have tales of horror to tell about the tragedy. ``It was a night of horror,'' said a 32-year-old eyewitness, contacted on phone from here. Many people lost their homes and spent the night out in the open. House collapses were extensive in Nandprayag, Chamoli, Gopeshwar and Dokhimath. Mohan Pawar of Gopeshwar said six persons, who were in his house in the village, died. Their bodies were found under the debris. The 85-year-old jail in Chamoli was destroyed, killing eight, including five women. An 82-year-old retired jail employee, Magan Singh, said the jail, commonly called the British jail, had housed several leaders of the freedom struggle. Chamoli Tehsil Bhawan, another old building, was razed to the ground. It used to be a big tourist attraction. A state government employee, Kishan Bhatt, said: ``Soon after I felt the quake and came out of my residence in Chamoli, I saw the jail building come crashing down and then, after a couple of minutes, the Chamoli Tehsil Bhawan, to, crumbled to the ground. Then I heard the cries of the dying and the injured under the debris.'' While the telephone exchange tower has been extensively damaged, the Rishikesh-Badrinath road has been blocked near Karanprayag, Nandprayag and several other points due to landslides triggered by the quake, according to a senior officer in Gopeshwar.
100 feared killed as quake hits Garhwal 58 bodies recovered in Chamoli district The Times of India News Service (March 30, 1999) DEHRA DUN/LUCKNOW: A major earthquake that hit the Garhwal hills on Sunday night left a trail of death and destruction in its wake. Over 100 people were killed and thousands injured in the region. While the worst affected was Chamoli district, the earthquake devastated Rudraprayag and Tehri districts also. All the deaths were reported from these three districts. Rescue operations were continuing and the authorities said the toll might go up. While army jawans have been sent to the affected areas, four air force helicopters made sorties during the day from Bareilly and Saharanpur to assess the situation. Arrangements were being made for evacuating the seriously injured. The earthquake, which hit the area at 12.35 a.m., measured 6.8 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was at Nandprayag in Chamoli. Later, tremors of reduced intensity continued throughout the day, according to reports from Lucknow. Chamoli falls in a zone identified as earthquake prone. The tremors were felt as far away at Kanpur, Chandigarh and Shimla. Though no casualties were reported from anywhere outside Garhwal, several buildings developed cracks in Delhi. Similar reports were received from Sonepat in Haryana and Shimla and other areas of Himachal Pradesh. When the quake started, said a villager in Nandprayag, a roar was heard, which seemed as ``if the earth was coming apart and the mountains were coming crashing down on the villages''. ``And soon after the thunderous sound, houses collapsed and people were trapped inside,'' said 34-year-old Lata Sharma in Nandprayag town. Chamoli, Gopeshwar, Rudraprayag, Joshimath and Ukhimath were badly hit. In Chamoli town, 90 per cent houses were extensively damaged. A local jail, reported to be 85 years old, collapsed killing six inmates. Om Prakash Bhatt, a resident of Gopeswar told The Times of India ``some of the weaker buildings fell like house of cards''. Some parts of the adjoining slopes near Nandal belt gave way triggering landslips. People ran helter-skelter for safety in panic. Till Monday morning, 18 tremors were felt in the region. Rescuers recovered 58 bodies in Chamoli district while an unspecified number of bodies were extricated from debris in Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal district. More bodies are likely to be recovered as the search operations were continuing. Hundreds of injured persons have been admitted to various hospitals but some seriously injured were still confined to their villages because road and communication links were disrupted due to landslides. Uttar Pradesh minister for hill development Ramesh Chandra Pokhriyal, Pauri Garhwal MP B.C. Khanduri and commissioner of Garhwal division Brij Mohan Vohra left for Chamoli on Monday to superwise the rescue operations. Barring minor cracks in the buildings, no major loss of life has, however, been reported from Uttarkashi, Pauri and Dehra Dun districts. These areas were the worst affected when an earthquake hit the region on October 9, 1991. No official account of the quake damage was available from the divisional commisioner's office in Dehra Dun on Monday evening. Chairman of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Devendra Bhasin said, three tourist rest houses belonging to the corporation had developed cracks. He said he has instructed his officials to keep the department wireless communication channels open for the needy. In a related development, the state government has announced financial relief to the calamity-stricken people. The succour will be similar to what was given to dependents of the victims of the Malpa landslip tragedy in Garhwal last year. The dependents of an earning member killed in the quake would be given Rs 1 lakh while Rs 50,000 would be given to dependents of others killed. A sum of Rs 25,000 would be given to those whose houses have been destroyed. The power supply was disrupted after the quake and efforts were on to restore it. The telecommunication lines, which were also disrupted, have already been repaired in Chamoli and adjacent districts. Twelve relief centres have been set up in Chamoli and more such centres would be set up elsewhere soon.
BIS updating India's quake map Date: 30-03-1999 :: Pg: 08 :: Col: a NEW DELHI, March 26. India's seismic zoning map is being updated by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with guidance from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The map, which is a guide to the seismic status of a region and its susceptibility to quakes, was updated last in 1984. It also provides an index of perceptibility of the quake. BIS is collecting data from the Geological Survey of India (GIS) and the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and the map is expected within a few years, Mr. S. M. Bhattacharaya, head of the seismology division at IMD, told PTI. The map would feature valuable geologic, geophysical and tectonic data to help determine the seismic status of a region more accurately. However, Sunday's quake at Chamoli bears ``no connection'' with the updating procedure as the area falls in an area which is the most active region seismically, he said. The area has already been marked as the most vulnerable in the existing map .India has been divided into five eismic zones based on the intensity of the quakes. Of these Zone-5 is the most active one where earthquakes of magnitude eight or more can occur. Part of Jammu and Kashmir, Kumaon-Garhwal region in U.P., the entire north-east and some areas in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh come under it.
Medical teams rushed to Garhwal Date: 30-03-1999 :: Pg: 08 :: Col: d By Our Special Correspondent LUCKNOW, March 29. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, Mr. Yogendra Narain, told presspersons today that landslides caused by the earthquake which shook the Garhwal region last night had breached four major roads - the Chamoli-Gopeshwar road, the Gopeshwar-Ukhimath road, the Karna Prayag-Almora road and the Rudra Prayag-Gaurikund road. Of these, the Chamoli-Gopeshwar road had been repaired with the help of the Border Roads Organisation and the State PWD. Efforts were being made to open the second most important road linking Rudra Prayag with Gaurikund. There has been a complete breakdown of power supply in Chamoli district. Telephone lines have also been rendered useless following the tremors. The State Government has urged the departments concerned to work overtime to restore the lines. To conduct rescue and relief operations, the Chief Medical Officer of Chamoli has despatched five medical teams to rural areas. Thirteen other medical teams have been despatched from Dehra Dun, Rudra Prayag, Saharanpur, Hardoi, Narendra Nagar and Srinagar. A State Government helicopter has been stationed at Gopeshwar to airlift the injured, if necessary. An Air Force helicopter was sent today from Bareilly to assess the locations which suffered severe damage. Two Air Force helicopters were later rushed from Sarsawa in Saharanpur district to conduct relief operations. The Commissioner of Garhwal has already reached Chamoli to oversee relief operations. The Minister for Uttaranchal Development, Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal, has left for the area to make an on-the-spot assessment. The Chief Minister, Mr. Kalyan Singh, has cancelled all his programmes in view of the calamity and would fly to Chamoli on Tuesday to review relief operations. Mr. Narain said ambulances had been placed at strategic points on highways so that the injured could be taken to hospital immediately after they were brought there from interior areas. The Central Government instructed its officials present in the area to provide all assistance to the State Government in relief operations. Engineers of the Border Roads Organisation and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel had been specifically asked to help in the rescue operations. The authorities, however, are worried that the bad weather may affect the rescue operations. Meteorological experts feel that the weather is likely to get worse during the next few days. Our Staff Correspondent adds from CHAMOLI: Tragedy revisited the Uttar Pradesh hills late last night when the earthquake rocked the area around half hour past midnight. Apart from Chamoli and Gopeshwar, reports of damage to structures and landslides had been pouring in from the neighboring Pithoragarh district also. According to the Chamoli SP, the area witnessed at least 10 aftershocks which continued till 4 a.m. Shock waves were also felt in Dehra Dun where the walls of a few houses developed cracks. The Minister for Uttaranchal Development, and his deputy, Mr. Matwar Singh Kandari, reached Gopeshwar by helicopter to supervise the rescue and relief operations. The victims would be given assistance similar to that given to the victims of Malpa landslide of last August, Mr. Pokhriyal said and added that the death and damage figures might be higher as rescue teams were yet to reach interior areas. The Air Force helicopters had reached Gopeshwar and Chamoli, and several rescue teams of the Army were reaching the affected areas, the Minister said. The DIG and the Commissioner of Garhwal reached Gopeshwar along with a medical team from Lucknow by helicopter and were coordinating relief operations. The worst hit areas besides Chamoli and Rudraprayag are the Chamoli valley and Ghat Block valley. The judicial lock up building in Upper Chamoli collapsed killing five male and one female prisoner. At least, 20 others were injured and were being given medical assistance. Ten persons were killed when their house collapsed in Purana Bazar of Chamoli. Three Nepali laborers died when the Purani Patwari Chowki in Gopeshwar collapsed. A number of houses collapsed in Jhingran and Gangol areas of Chamoli.
Quake among country's top 15 in two centuries Date: 30-03-1999 :: Pg: 08 :: Col: b By Our Special Correspondent NEW DELHI, March 29. In terms of magnitude, the earthquake which hit Chamoli district in Uttar Pradesh last night ranks among the top 15 that have rocked the country during the past two centuries. According to records available with the India Meteorological department, since 1800 A.D. only 12 others have had a magnitude over that of the tremor of last night. In terms of impact, on the other hand, though reports are still trickling in, the expectation of earthquake experts at IMD is that it may not be as severe as it could have been. According to them, a redeeming feature was that the epicentre was quite deep under the ground - 30 km from the surface. Consequently, though the quake was felt over a wider area - it was felt as far as away Jabalpur - it should not cause as much damage as it would have, if it had been nearer the surface. Also the area where the quake took place was a remote one and was thus sparsely populated. In Uttarkhasi, Latur and Jabalpur, which had witnessed killer quakes earlier this decade, on the other hand, the epicentres were just 12 km from the surface in the case of the first two and 35 km in the case of the third. The three quakes also took place near densely-populated areas. The seismologists also informed that the quake last night has been followed by a large number of after-shocks, albeit with decreasing magnitude. It may be good, since it meant that energy accumulated under the ground was being released in a phased manner, instead of in a cumulative way. But they, however, hastened to caution that not much should be read into that. They emphasised that science was yet to develop to a stage, where it would be possible to predict an earthquake with reasonable accuracy in terms of location, time and magnitude. This was the position across the world, they added. The seismic experts also noted that Chamoli district, where the quake took place, was in a most seismically active region. There were two main seismic belts in north India - one runs in the Outer Himalayas, which witnessed two major quakes (in Kangra in 1905 and along the Bihar-Nepal border in 1936), and the other is the inner belt, that runs from Nepal via Garhwal to Himachal Pradesh, at the junction of the lesser and higher Himalayas. Chamoli lies in the second region, along with Uttarkhasi, where a major quake in 1991 claimed 1,500 lives. The Bureau of Indian Standards, the seismologists said, has laid down the various precautionary measures that need to be followed at the time of construction of houses and other buildings to make them quake-proof. The standards varied according to the susceptibility of a region.
85 killed, many injured as quake rocks North India Date: 30-03-1999 :: Pg: 01 :: Col: a By Our Special Correspondent LUCKNOW, March 29. The massive earthquake that rocked the Garhwal region of Uttar Pradesh in the inner Himalayas shortly after midnight last night has left at least 85 people dead and more than 130 injured in and around the towns of Chamoli and Rudra Prayag. Hundreds of houses in the area had collapsed and reports of damage to life and property continued to pour in as authorities sought the help of the Army and the Air Force to undertake rescue and relief operations. Most of the deaths were in towns located in the region. The authorities felt that the exact extent of the damage would be known only after rescue teams returned from interior locations. Of the 85 deaths reported so far, 56 were in Chamoli district. These included 36 killed in Chamoli town, five at Gopeshwar, four at Joshimath and three at Jakholi. The other eight deaths in the district were in smaller places nearby. Of the 29 deaths reported from the Rudra Prayag region, 17 were in Ukhimath and 12 in Rudra Prayag proper. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, Mr. Yogendra Narain, told reporters that 90 per cent of the houses in Chamoli district had been damaged. House collapses on a large scale had also occurred at other places. The epicentre of the tremor was located 30.2 degrees North latitude and 79.5 degrees East longitude in the vicinity of Nand Prayag town. The first tremor which occurred at 12.35 a.m. on Monday measured 6.8 on the Richter Scale. This was followed by several tremors with an intensity between 4.9 and 2 on the Richter Scale. The area continued to experience tremors on Monday. The earthquake occurred in the seismic zone 5 stated to be one of the most active. Reports of tremors have come in from across the entire region in Dehra Dun, Hardwar, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bijnore, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Ghaziabad, besides Delhi. PTI, UNI report: Road links between Chamoli and Gopeshwar, Gopeshwar and Ukhimath and Karnprayag and Almora have been snapped because of debris of collapsed houses and landslips. The Border Roads Organisation was engaged restoring the road links. The quake rocked Srinagar and adjoining areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. Aftershocks were felt around 200 to 300 km away from the epicentre. A severe earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale also jolted the Nanda Devi mountain area on the Sino-Indian border, reports said. Cities and towns throughout northern India, including New Delhi, Shimla, Jaipur, Ambala, Chandigarh, Faridabad and Gurgaon experienced the tremors which was also felt in Pune in the western part of the country. The tremors caused cracks in a few buildings in Shimla and Sirmour in Himachal Pradesh, Sonepat in Haryana and Ambala in Punjab. A few apartment buildings in Delhi developed cracks in the quake which lasted nearly 60 seconds and was the strongest the capital experienced in recent times. Besides East Delhi, no other area of the capital reported any kind of damage to property. In Punjab, a portion of a four-storey building under construction caved in at Nakodar near Jalandhar killing at least two labourers, police said. Rescue workers were trying to find out if there were more trapped under the debris. While some houses developed cracks in their walls in Himachal Pradesh, the wall of a police post at Sanjauli in Shimla town crashed. However, police personnel on duty escaped unhurt. In Srinagar and adjoining areas, the tremor lasting a few seconds sent people rushing out of their homes. However, there was no report of any casualty or damage to property. |