Among the deceased, 21 have been identified by officials with the help of their Aadhaar cards or mobile phones.
Following the incident of a suspected cloudburst in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Thursday (August 14) which resulted in the deaths of at least five dozen people, authorities are struggling to locate the bodies buried under mounds of heavy boulders, uprooted trees and mud which came crashing down like a giant wave and swept away parts of the Chishoti village, the site of the tragedy.
The death toll in the climate tragedy which struck the ecologically fragile Himalayan region on Thursday touched 60 with 22 more bodies recovered from the debris so far. An official in Kishtwar deputy commissioner’s office told The Wire that the search and rescue operation, which was put on hold last night, resumed early this morning.
‘We are facing an unprecedented situation’
Among the deceased, 21 have been identified by officials with the help of their Aadhaar cards or mobile phones. Of them, at least ten are from Jammu and Kashmir while one has been identified as a resident of New Delhi. So far, 80 people looking for missing persons have approached the helplines and officials in charge of rescue operations
“We are facing an unprecedented situation,” the official said, wishing to remain anonymous, “For now, our priority is the welfare of survivors and those who are looking for their loved ones. It is nature’s wrath and humans are helpless before it”.
Witnesses and officials said that intermittent rain continued throughout the night in some parts of Kishtwar, hampering operations to locate survivors and bodies in the hilly village which serves as a base camp for the Machail Mata pilgrimage that takes place in Padder sub-division.
Officials said that around two hundred thousand devotees had performed the pilgrimage, of whom around 500-800 – most of them from other parts of the country, including the national capital, Delhi – were present at the base camp in Chishoti, a poor village of 336 people per Census 2011.
Senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Sunil Sharma said that around 1,200 people were present at the time of the incident. Officials released a list of 80 people on Friday (August 15) who were injured and rescued.
Some survivors recalled hearing a “scary” sound emanating from the forest – a giant wave of sludge and debris gaining mass and momentum as it came hurtling down and altered the geography of the village.
“The noise seemed to be coming closer. I screamed at everyone that we should run away,” a middle-aged woman, who escaped with an injury in the arm, told reporters at a hospital in Kishtwar where she is undergoing treatment. The Wire could not identify her immediately.
The climate tragedy, which is believed to have been triggered by a cloudburst in the higher reaches of Kishtwar, has left a trail of death and destruction in the village where at least six residential houses have been swept away or partially damaged while some local residents are also searching for their loved ones.
Kishtwar is an eco-fragile district located in Seismic Zone IV along the Reasi fault line of J&K’s Chenab valley which has witnessed haphazard infrastructure development without adequate geological or environmental assessment in recent years.
Widespread mountain cutting and excavation for projects have destabilised Himalayan slopes
According to environmental experts, widespread mountain cutting and excavation for roads and several hydro power projects that have come up in Kishtwar in recent years earning it the nickname of north India’s power hub have destabilised the slopes of the young Himalayan mountains while worsening the impact of flash floods and mudslides triggered by cloud bursts.
R.K. Ganjoo, former professor of geology at the University of Jammu, said that the climate change has triggered a trend of accumulation of clouds and heavy precipitation in higher areas (3000-4000 metres above sea level) across the world than lower areas which is accompanied by changes in wind patterns also.
Ganjoo, whose work focuses on climate change and glaciology in the Himalayas, said that the narrow river valleys across the Himalayan region from Uttarakhand to Jammu and Kashmir are being occupied by human settlements with most of these settlements coming up on the riverside.
“A big cluster of human population turns these valleys into tiny heat islands which leads to cloud accumulation and cloudburst. Development and power generation is necessary but when you undertake mega projects, there are peripheral developments like roads, blasting, introduction of heavy machinery, etc. which act as a catalyst in changing the ecosystem. It may not happen overnight but it will definitely happen,” said Ganjoo.
