Page 1 of 14

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 07

August 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 356

Uttarakhand Disaster: Facts, Causes and

its Psychological Impact

*Nikhil Singh Charak & **Samia Kohli

*Lecturer, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Jammu,

*M.Phil Research Scholar, Department of Strategic and Regional studies, University of Jammu, Email:

pearls.shell@ gmail.com ; Email: <nikhilcharak@gmail.com>

ABSTRACT

The word disaster implies a sudden

overwhelming and unforeseen event.

Disaster is a serious disruption in the

functioning of Community or a society

causing widespread material, an economic,

social or environmental loss that exceeds the

ability of the affected society to cope using

its own resources. In light of the disaster

that occurred in Uttarakhand, were a cloud

burst caused flash floods that swept the

state, resulting in massive destruction, loss

of life and left thousands of tourists

stranded. A natural hazardous has been

happened in Kedarnath valley due to

torrential

rainfall during 16 and 17 June 2013. Kedar

nath is a town located in the Indian state of

Uttarakhand and has gained importance

because of Kedarnath Temple located at the

latitude of 30.73 and the longitude of 79.06.

This region is seismically and ecologically

very sensitive and delicate, even a minute

changes (anthropogenic or natural) can

create a dangerous disaster. A disaster

disrupts the existing social structure and

makes it difficult for the usual social

mechanisms to manage the consequences.

Problems resulting from disasters are many

and are not limited just to those of a

physical nature. Different Variables that

may moderate the impact of disasters,

includes the abity of survivors to adjust

psychologically, the capacity of the

community structures to adapt to the crisis

and the amount of help available. The

Present paper attempts to develop an in- depth perspective about what happened on

16th June, 2013 in Uttarakhand State. It will

explore geography of the Uttarakhand state

and nature of the disaster. In addition, it

also deals with the various causes of the

Uttarakhand-flood disaster, issues related

with this great disaster and the management

of these types of disasters with possible

mitigation.

Page 2 of 14

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 07

August 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 357

Keywords: Disaster, Flash floods,

Psychological impact,Mitigation.

1. INTRODUCTION

Uttarakhand, known as the “Dev Bhumi” or

the Land of the Gods for its spiritual identity

and is one of the ancient and famous

pilgrimage place situated in Uttrakhand,

India. Kedarnath is located in the snow

cover area of Himalayan region at the height

of approximately 3,583 meter above the sea

level in Mandakini valley of Rudraprayag

District of Uttrakhand. This region exerts a

very critical weather conditions and is not

possible to visit this Holy place for the

whole year so only from May to October it

is safe to visit there. The major catastrophe

took place in this Indian state of Uttrakhand

on June 16, 2013 in beginning of pre- monsoon rains that resulted into a huge

tragedy waiting to happen. Continuously for

four days unparalleled rains (400 mm)

during mid-June 2013 resulted in huge flash

floods followed by Land-slides at different

places. A sudden flow of water entered the

centuries- old Kedarnath temple, and

washed away everything in its vicinity and

nearby area in a matter of minutes.

According to the reports, more than six

thousand pilgrims died and more than four

thousand went missing and scores of

thousands remained stranded, waiting to be

airlifted. In one of the largest rescue

operations in the World, Army deployed

10,000 soldiers and 11 helicopters, the Navy

sent 45 naval divers, and the Air force

deployed 43 aircraft including 36 helicopters

in Uttarakhand flood-hit districts of

Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarakashi, to

save and airlift the stranded pilgrims and

localides and this rescue operation named as

‘Mission Rahat’ ended on 2nd July, 2013

after the 17 days of enormous work with the

evacuation of over 1,10,000 people.

Overflowing rivers washed out many

lodges/hotels and human settlements and

destroyed thousands of hectares of

agricultural and forest land and Kedarnath,

centuries-old historic town, was converted

into a haunted place in no time.

The research team from GBPIHED,

Garhwal Unit (GU) estimated that

approximately 10-15 years will be required

to restore the tourism-based economy and

infrastructure of the Kedarnath town. In

addition, post-disaster, local inhabitants in

the Kedar valley are facing different

challenges due to food insecurity and

insecurity regarding the future as the

economy of the region was mostly based on

Page 3 of 14

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP

e-ISSN: 2395-0463

Volume 01 Issue 07

August 2015

Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 358

tourism. Such a terrific situation is of the

serious concern to the government and its

several departments and poses several

challenges for the formulation of appropriate

strategies and their execution. The

competition between tourism industries,

several hydroelectric projects are in fast

track in this state. Large number of residents

and villagers have now started to live near

by the Kedarnath Temple and

commercialize this holy region by building

different hotels and market places in this

valley and thus it is clear that there is

tremendous growth in the infrastructure

during the last few decades and

proportionally the number of pilgrimages

has been increased to a greater extent.

2. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF

THE AREA

The Kedarnath temple is located in western

extremity of the Central Himalaya

(30°44 ́6.7ʺN; 79°04 ́1ʺE) in Mandakini

river valley which has a total catchment area

of ~67 Km2, out of which 23% area is

covered by glaciers (Mehta et al., 2012).

The catchment area is situated in glacier

modified u-shaped valley; its altitude ranges

from 2740 to 6578m. Bhart Khunta

(6578m), Kedarnath (6940m), Mahalaya

peak (5320m) are few well known peaks in

this area.

Figure 1.a, Satellite view of Kedarnath area,

showing drainage system, glaciers, lake and

township; b, The

India Metrological Department image (17June, 20

C:\Users\a\Desktop\Kedarnath-WIHG.png