Uttarkashi: 4 people have died due to cloudburst in Dharali village of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand at around 1.45 pm on Tuesday. A dead body was recovered during the rescue-search operation on Wednesday morning. He is being identified.
More than 50 people are still missing. More than 150 people have been rescued since yesterday. SDRF, NDRF, ITBP and Army teams are engaged in rescue work.
On Wednesday morning, PM Modi spoke to Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami over the phone. After this, Dhami conducted an aerial survey of Dharali and other places. He also held a meeting with the officials regarding the rescue operation.
The market, houses and hotels of Dharali village, the main stop for Gangotri pilgrims, were washed away. Debris flowing from the mountains into the Kheer Ganga river swept away this destruction in just 34 seconds. 11 army personnel are missing in Harshil after the cloudburst.
Dharali is situated on a crack in the Himalayas, destroyed for the third time in 10 years
Cloudbursts had also occurred on the mountain in Dharali village in 1864, 2013 and 2014. Kheer Nala caused havoc due to this. Geologists advised the state government to relocate Dharali village somewhere else after all three disasters.
It was also told that Dharali is sitting on a time bomb in terms of disaster, but it was not shifted.
Senior geologist Prof. SP Sati says…
Dharali is in the Main Central Thrust present in the Trans Himalayas (above 4 thousand meters). This is a crack that connects the main Himalayas to the Trans Himalayas. This is also a highly sensitive zone for earthquakes. The mountain from which the Kheer Ganga river originates is 6 thousand meters high. Whenever there is a flood from there, it destroys Dharali.
About 6 months ago, a part of the mountain was breaking and falling into the Kheer river, but it got stuck. Probably this time the same part has broken and come down.
1500 years old Kalp Kedar temple also destroyed
The ancient Kalp Kedar Mahadev temple located in Dharali also got buried in the debris in the disaster. This 1500 years old temple located on the banks of the Bhagirathi river is associated with the Panch Kedar tradition. It was the biggest center of faith of the local people.
Dharali 18 km from Gangotri Dham
Dharali village is a small hill village located in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. This village is situated near Harshil valley, on the banks of the Bhagirathi river. Dharali village is a major stop on the Gangotri Yatra. This is the last big village before Gangotri Dham, from where people stop for the difficult climb ahead. Pilgrims get accommodation and food facilities here.
It is 218 km from Dehradun and 18 km from Gangotri Dham. It is not yet known how many people were present here at the time of the disaster. The administration says that the damage is being assessed.
People were seen saving their lives in the video, debris accumulated up to 30 feet
Many videos of this disaster came out. In these, people were seen running here and there to save their lives. There was screaming all around. Those who were making videos of this, were shouting and asking people to save themselves despite being at a distance. After the disaster, debris accumulated up to 30 feet in Dharali. Many shops in the market and nearby houses were razed to the ground.
