Article Manshi Asher published on 07/02/22 in The Wire Science
Last year on this day, bone-chilling images emerged from a tragic disaster in the Himalaya. A group of workers desperate to save their lives were huddled under the roof of the Tapovan Dam barrage in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, even as a deluge roared over them. Someone had captured the sight on camera and it played on loop on news channels.
On February 7, 2021, a large mass of rock and ice from Ronti peak avalanched into the Rishiganga, Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers, causing their waters to flood and destroy local dams and villages. More than 200 people were killed in the tragedy.
One of the ‘features’ of the disaster was that it was compounded by large-scale dam construction activities downstream in the Rishiganga river valley: the swelling water toppled concrete and metal structures, and as it raged through the valley building momentum, the debris it carried rendered it more destructive.
Now, a year since Chamoli, it’s hard not to look to the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh and anticipate similar disasters, given the latter’s ongoing dam-building spree. Read full article
