Panic grips India's Himalayan town after homes develop cracks with sinking land

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Authorities in the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand evacuated several families from Joshimath town after cracks developed in their homes, triggering panic and fear among the residents.

Nestled in the Himalayas and located at an altitude of 6,150 feet (1,875 meters), the town in the district Chamoli is popular with pilgrims and tourists.

Nand Kishore Joshi, a senior disaster management official in the district, told Anadolu Agency that they have started evacuating the families and the situation is being monitored continuously.

“So far 44 families have been shifted," he said, adding that the cracks started appearing a month ago.

This week, the local residents also protested over the issue, following which the authorities halted the construction works in and around Joshimath.

Experts, over the years, have been saying that large-scale construction work would not go well here because the region is geologically not stable.

Government officials in the area said they found cracks in at least 500 houses in the town and steps are being taken to provide all assistance to the affected people.

Noted Indian geologist Kalachand Sain, who is also Director of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Uttarakhand, told Anadolu Agency that subsidence — the sinking of the land — began a long time back and it is still happening. He cited multiple reasons for the present situation.

“The Joshimath area is already tectonically unstable because the region is lying in seismic zone 5. If you look at the landslide susceptibility and vulnerability of this region, it is also very high. If you look at its geology, it is already vulnerable,” he said, adding the town of Joshimath was built over the debris of an old landslide.

He said there has been a lot of sub-surface activity happening in the area and the surface pressure has increased due to “human activities and development activities.”

“The high stress accumulated is now getting released in the form of cracks and other ways.”

Atul Sati, a local activist and convener of an organization called Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, which has been protesting against the "inaction" of authorities to stop land subsidence, said the government has now "woken up after the situation has turned serious."

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday arrived in the town to survey the area and meet the locals.

Dhami said a day earlier that their priority is to ensure the safety of 600 families, which are affected in the area.

Uttarakhand, in the western Himalayas, is prone to flash floods and landslides. Floods in June 2013 triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed nearly 6,000 people.

In 2021, a flash flood rushed through a valley in Uttarakhand state, damaging dam project sites and killing over 200 people.

In 2013, a glacial lake outburst flood resulted in the country's worst natural disaster since a tsunami in 2004 that killed 5,700 people.