While the continuous torrential rains have already claimed many lives and caused extensive damage to properties and crops in HP and neighbouring Punjab, experts wonder whether the widespread devastation should be blamed on the downpour alone. A report by Rajesh Moudgil
The massive downpour this monsoon so far has left Himachal Pradesh in a state of shock and mourning; flash floods, landslides and cloudburst have already claimed over 360 lives while at least 40 persons are still reported missing. The missing people include the ones who either got washed away in the sudden flooding in rivers and rivulets across the hill state and the ones who got buried under the debris of landslides.
On the other hand, the number of people injured in these catastrophic accidents has already crossed 340. While over 2,300 houses in different districts of the state – including Shimla, Kullu and Manali and Mandi – have been completely lost, the number of houses partially damaged has crossed 10,000. These are besides over 300 shops and over 5,000 cowsheds.
According to state estimates, it has suffered monetary loss of over Rs 8,500 crore in over 156 incidents of landslides and 63 incidents of flash floods in which the hilly state has also lost a plethora of human, cattle lives and official and commercial buildings.
And even though the teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as well as various state agencies promptly responded to the havoc caused by plural factors, rescue works are still in progress at several rural interiors and urban locations of Shimla, Kullu and Mandi districts, besides other places.
Many factors behind catastrophe: Experts
Bemoaning the losses, Prof Sushil Kumar Sharma, an expert on sustainable development and communication, says the devastation in the Western Himalayas region of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand is a result of many factors like unprecedented rains due to adverse weather conditions, haphazard construction, inactions of regulatory authorities, building of large hydro-power and road projects, and over-aged forest stands.
The colossal destruction in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand was created by rise in temperature and the warming-up land which enhanced humidity ultimately resulting in increasing the intensity of rains. Hence heavy rains that have been received by these hilly states so far. The spells of heavy rainfall were also caused due to Northside movement of the axis of the monsoon trough or low-pressure, causing heavy or very heavy rains all over the Himalayas.
