Haanji,
As we all know that, a week ago on 13th February 2021 there was a glacier outburst at the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Which was caused by breaking off the large piece of Nanda Devi Glacier and fell into the river on February 7th, which triggered the avalanche and glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Dhauli Ganga, Rishi Ganga, and Alaknanda rivers on February 13th. This was the second big incident for the Himalayan State after the Kedarnath Tragedy in 2013.
In this tragedy, more than 150 persons are missing and nearly 60 deaths took place. Which is so sad to hear. It also destroyed two Hydroelectric power plants namely, Rishi Ganga Hydel Project and NTPC’s Tapovan, Vishnu-gad Hydel project. Together with five bridges and households were washed after the waters hit.
So now u have just read the scenario caused by the glacier outburst. But, What is Glacier? How Glaciers are formed? what is exactly glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF)? And how it destroyed the Chamoli district? And let’s find what are the expected reasons behind this natural tragedy that makes people panic? before we go on reasons, let’s have a look at some geographical terms.
What is Glacier?
Glaciers form when snow remains in one location long enough to turn into ice. This makes glaciers move around uniquely. The glacier is a large-scale moving iceberg on the surface of the Earth, and due to its weight, flows down the mountain shields. glaciers flow like very steady rivers. We must note that the snowfall is dense and comes from areas where the amount of snowfall exceeds the decay of the snow and some snow is left every year as extra. The accumulation of snow, year after year, puts pressure on the lower layers and transforms them into a dense ice. This dense snowfall flows on the slopes due to its load called the glacier.
How Glaciers are formed?
Glaciers start to form every year in places where there is more snow than melts. The snow starts to compress soon after falling and gets denser and denser. New layers of snow bury and compress the previous layers each year. New snow is falling and burying the granular snow. Slowly, it shifts from light, fluffy crystals to hard, round ice pellets. The formation of a glacier can take nearly 100 to 150 years to form fully in ice. (FunFact: The age of the oldest glacier ice ever found is about 30000 years old. )
Let’s have a look at the Geology of the Site :
This incident happened in the Tapovan area of Joshimath in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The region contains rugged mountain ranges running in all directions and separated by narrow valleys which, in many cases, become deep gorges or ravines with the highest mountains in the eastern Chamoli district. There are also many pilgrimages and tourism attractions in the district of Chamoli, including Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib, and the flowers' valley. In the early 1970s, the "Chipko Movement" had its origins in the Chamoli District of Uttarakhand.
So, to understand the elevation of this district, the second-highest mountain in India is situated in this district after Kangchenjunga, which is Nandadevi, which means that the district ranges from 800 meters to 8000 meters above sea level. The northern part of the district is occupied by high mountain ranges and snow-covered peaks and, as we all know, the mountains are part of the Himalayan mountain ranges, which means that they are composed of high-grade metamorphic and volcanic rocks on the other side, and the southern part of the district is occupied by low-altitude mountain ranges and is composed of sedimentary and low-grade metamorphic rocks. The northern Uttarakhand districts are well-known for the glaciers, which are also a major source of fresh water for the state when water comes from higher to lower altitudes.
The government often install hydropower projects to tap into more energy for meeting domestic energy demands, two such hydropower projects namely, Rishi Ganga Hydel Project and NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad Hydel project has been nearly washed away by the flash flood. The outburst in the glacier caused major floods in the river Dhauli Ganga and resulted in widespread destruction in the Himalayas.
So how glacier burst occurs?
Basically, the glacier is the moving ice. when glaciers melt they form a glacial lake in which water is blocked by some stones or rock called Moraine, the water from the lake slowly drains out in the form of the river. Now imagine even a few massive chunks of glaciers break and fall into the lake that will not only increase the volume of water in the lake it will also increase the pressure as result water gushes out and cause the flash flood in the river. As I have said the southern division of Chamoli’s district consists of a mountain that is composed of sedimentary and low-grade metamorphic rocks. Naturally, when a large volume of water comes down at such massive speed it will wash away sediments rocks and boulders it will cause massive erosion landslides, and any kind of man-made infrastructure like a dam, villages will be washed away, so whenever you hear glacier burst it means bursting of a glacier lake.
A sudden release of the massive amount of water, which is held in the glacial lake, is the valid geographical term of glacial lake outburst flooding, and that sudden chunks of glacier break that fall into the lake create pressure to make outburst. Now there was speculation whether the flood was triggered by a glacial lake burst or landslides. Many experts are looking into it
Impact:
If any natural calamity occurs especially a flood or tsunami, it nearly destroys many nearby things like dams, barriers, houses, land, farms, and many more things, and most important is some peoples losing their lives, which is more precious than any other things. We just say that many peoples are missing and some are dead, some have lost their house, and it’s really easy to hear, write and say these things. But just think about what that particular family or individual is facing right now after losing so many things and people. Have you ever realize that what’s their situation right now. And I am so sure that many of us just listen and let it go.
So when glacier lake outburst flood occurs in the Chamoli District of Uttarakhand it affected many locations that are Nanda Devi Glacier, Rishi Ganga river, Dhauli Ganga river, Raini village, Tapovan, Joshimath.
On the Rishiganga River and a tributary of the Dhauliganga River the Rishiganga power project has been damaged and 35 workers working on the project are missing. The Chamoli district of Uttarakhand seemed most affected by the rise of the Dhauliganga River. The floodwater washed away the Dhauliganga Dam on the confluence of the rivers Rishiganga and Dhauliganga.
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an Image from Times Of India
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Uttarakhand's Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the flash floods also affected a significantly greater NTPC owned hydro-power project with 176 workers working on a project involving two tunnels where the workers have been trapped. Senior police officers told the media that a bridge in the Tapovan area that connected 13 villages had been washed away in the avalanche. Joshimath, Rini, the National Park of Nanda Devi, the Tapovan Vishnu-gad hydropower station, and Sridhar are among the places most affected by this flood. some source is saying that the loss occurred in this flood, was worth approximately 1500 crore.
Causes:
As we all know there are two types of causes, that triggered the Flood Outburst i.e Natural Cause Or Man-Made/ Human Cause,
- Natural Cause includes Earthquakes, Avalanche, Landslides, Erosion of Moraine, Displacement of water in glacial lakes, Heavy Rainfall, or Sudden Climate change.
- Man-Made/ Human Cause includes many things like Poor maintenance and Developmental planning issues which include insufficient Drainage network, Inadequate maintenance of watercourse, Inappropriate developments in flood plains, Badly designed flood mechanism. It also includes Ignorance, Unawareness, Illiteracy, Carelessness, etc
Now the question is, Do Government was aware of this Incident?
As per The New York Times, scientists have warned the Government of India for many years that the Himalayas have been warming at a dangerously high rate and that the ecosystem of the region has become too physically exposed to the dangers of development projects. Dr. Ravi Chopra, director of the People's Science Institute in Uttarakhand and member of the Scientific Committee appointed by the Supreme Court of India in 2014, has advised against building dams in the para-glacial zone. i.e. river valleys with a floor above 7000 feet, but their objections have been ignored by the government of India. Both hydro-electric power projects, which were washed away in the flood, have been built in this area, according to Dr. Chopra.
Under the New York Times, an Indian Supreme Court-appointed in 2020, and headed by Dr. Chopra, In order to improve approaches to Hindu temples in the high Himalayas, the Government has built an 800 km long and 33 feet broad highway in the hills of Uttarakhand. Overriding the guidance of its own specialists The Board of Reni, a village most affected by the flood washes away Rishiganga's 13-megawatt hydropower project. The village residents worried that the blasting of the rocks would result in dangerous landslides during the building of the hydropower dam. The villagers also asked the government to transfer the project from here to another place when this project was under construction. The government said they were going to, but never.
How we can get prepared to avoid this incident or to face the incident?
First of all, we should strongly follow National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines
Risk reduction:- There should be a proper mapping of the area and the risky zone must be marked and also include healthcare, fire service, night safety departments, sprinkler systems, burglary alarms which try to address risk by avoiding or reducing the chance of loss.
Structural Measures:- Structural measures are any physical construction that reduces or avoids the potential impact of floods, or the use of engineering techniques or technology to achieve flood resistance and resilience in structures. Like Dams, Barriers, Moraine, Tunnel, etc.
Synthetic-aperture radar:- Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar used to create two-dimensional images of objects, such as landscapes, or three-dimensional reconstructions. SAR can automatically detect any change in a targeted place.
Remote Sensing Technology:- Nowadays Remote Sensing Technology is used to relieve disaster efforts. For example, The survivors were identified and information was passed on to emergency teams via drones and robots.
Something which we can suggest:-
- More Early Warning Systems should be installed so that it could be easier to track upcoming disasters and avoid the loss.
- The workers who work near risky zone should wear a proper uniform with some bright color because in case if individual get into any kind of flood or something then rescue team can reach to that person easily.
- The government or local school should arrange a workshop or a mock drill to train the local people, so in case of emergency, they can survive till the rescuer reach them.
And deep inside we all know that we are the people who are responsible for this kind of natural disaster and we should keep it in mind, we are the only ones who can control the pollution and stop global warming.
we can’t blame the government it's our duty to protect our environment. We can take few steps just from ourselves like promoting electric vehicles, use public transport, planting more trees, etc.
All I want is that start it from you from your home and yes "Big Things Are Made By Contributing Small Things.
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