About 7 km upstream from Dharali village, located at an altitude of about 6,700 meters above sea level, a large part of the glacier deposited debris broke off and the debris came rushing down towards the valley resulting in the massive devastation :
Says Geologist Imran Khan
The Dharali village devastation on a massive scale that resulted out of the flash floods triggered by cloud bursts leading to several deaths and huge collateral infrastructure losses including more than fifty people missing though the number seems to be much more has indeed sent shock waves at the pan India level.
Though Uttarakhand already comes under Zone 5 prone to earthquakes and future warnings already predicted, the ecological disasters have shaken this state badly especially after the Uttarkashi earthquake of 1991, June 16, 2013 massive flash floods of Kedarnath, the Chamoli catastrophe of 2023 and now Dharali cloud bursts. However, the seismologists, earth scientists and geologists have different views on the present tragic flash floods.
While professor Ankit Aggrawal, a scientist from the Hydrology department of IIT Roorkee says that due to climate change the western disturbance and monsoon are now shifting forward. In 2013 ecological disaster of Kedarnath that officially claimed five thousand lives, though the actual number of the dead was much much higher, the massive flash floods were the result of the similar impact of the Western disturbance which was in Uttarkashi in Tuesday.
According to Professor Aggrawal climate change is becoming responsible for such incidents.
When the winds rising from the Mediterranean Sea move from west to east, they collide with the Himalayas, increasing the risk of cloud burst.
Now the pattern of western disturbance is changing and this disturbance is moving from central India towards the Himalayas. It moves towards the Himalayas carrying a large amount of moisture with it.
However, a renowned social and environmental activist from Joshimath Atul Sati has posted an exclusive picture of geologist Imran Khan of Bhutan’s PHP 1 unambiguously exhibiting that slide of Glacier Deposit picture which actually resulted in triggering this massive surge in flash floods leading to devastating losses to human lives and maximum infrastructure of almost eighty percent of Dharali and Harshil Army Camp where reportedly more than fifty persons are missing and several deaths taking place.
According to the Geologist Imran Khan about 7 km upstream from Dharali village, located at an altitude of about 6,700 meters above sea level, a large part of the glacier deposited debris broke off and the debris came rushing down towards the valley.
According to satellite images, the thickness of the glacier debris is said to be 300 meters and the area spread is about 1.12 square kilometers. Due to which there is devastation in the lower areas.
