On the afternoon of 11 August 2024, a terrible landslide occurred in Bhimbali of Kedarnath. An entire mountain slid and fell into the Mandakini river. Travelers coming and going there made a video of this scene. The video shows how the entire mountain is getting submerged in the river. The path of the river got blocked due to the debris of the mountain.
A pond was formed on the upper side of the Mandakini river. The good thing was that no one died in this accident. There was no damage. District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said that on August 11, in the afternoon, a landslide occurred from the hill across the river in front of Bhimbali helipad. Due to this, the water in the Mandakini river stopped.
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Rajwar said that a pond had formed there. Which is now slowly reducing. There has been no loss of life or property. He said that an alert has been issued from Gaurikund to Rudraprayag. He has appealed to the people living on the river bank that no one should go towards the river. Be cautious.
But isn’t it enough that such accidents are on the rise…
In April 2024 itself, ISRO had revealed that there are 2431 glacial lakes in the Himalayas. Out of which the size of 676 lakes has increased continuously. Out of these, 130 are in Indian territory. The danger of these lakes breaking remains. These glacial lakes are under threat due to global warming. Here we are talking about glaciers but such accidents can also happen due to landslides. If the mountains break and block the path of a river, then one day the river will break it and move forward. This will cause a terrible accident.
There are 2431 lakes in total in the Himalayas, their size is constantly increasing
If we look at the data from 1984 to 2023, it is revealed that there are 2431 lakes in the Himalayas which are larger than 10 hectares in size. Whereas since 1984, there are 676 lakes whose area has expanded. Out of these, 130 are present in India. 65 glacial lakes have been formed on the Indus River, seven on the Ganges and 58 on the Brahmaputra.
How can a landslide cause such an accident?
When mountains are formed, a huge amount of landmass moves from one place to another. Whenever an object reaches a state of high energy, it moves towards a state of low energy so that stability and balance is maintained. The same happens in mountains during landslides. When these mountains slide and fall into the river below, a pond will be formed on one side.
Where the pond is formed, there will be more energy. Then the rising water in the pond will try to escape towards less energy by increasing the pressure. This is where the wall of the pond will break and there will be flash floods in the lower areas. In the last 10-15 years, the occurrence of extreme weather events has increased. Because of this, the hill slopes are not getting stability. To get this, they slide from top to bottom. Usually this is called landslip.
Landslip happens first, massive landslide occurs
When a landslide occurs on a large scale, it is called a landslide. A landslide is considered when 10 square meters of land slides together. That is, a hill slope that has less strong stones at the bottom. There is loose soil above. There are less trees and plants on this soil. When more water falls on it from above, then it slides.
There can be only two reasons for a landslide. First is an earthquake and second is extremely heavy rainfall. Nothing else is changing. If these two natural reasons are not causing a landslide, then nothing else can cause it because the geographical conditions are stable. It is man who is ruining it by changing the climate and by doing haphazard construction.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)