The unprecedented disaster in the Central Himalayas began around mid June with incessant heavy rains which made rivers swell quickly and erode river banks; some with entire houses collapsing into the river current.
Some villages were completely inundated. A lot of destruction was also caused by huge landslides.
But is it all nature’s wrath or does mankind has a hand in the course of events?
It is not only the responsibility of the government to safeguard its citizens in such difficult times but also provide relief when such events have passed.
The baffling destruction happened due to the callous disregard of the state government for ecology. It si the government that allowed buildings to be built on the edge of river-banks.
Once disaster struck widely, it was mainly Indian Army, Air Force, ITBP and National Disaster Response Force teams that were called in for rescue effort.
Some affected people also helped in whichever way they could. One Mi-17 V5 on a rescue mission from Gauchar to Guptkashi and Kedarnath crashed north of Gaurikund, while returning from Kedarnath. Eight persons onboard, including five crew members, suffered fatal injuries in the mishap. News reports towards end of June further reflected the apathy of Central and state governments making tall claims of implementing relief and haggling over fatal casualty figures, which include tourists, pilgrims and local residents.
Indian Air Force helicopters, on standby since June 16, 2013 in response to requests by the district administration for relief and rescue missions, were pressed into service on June, 17 2013.
MI17, MI17 V5 and Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), on standby at over five Air Force stations in three states, airlifted men, equipment, relief material medical aid and began a relentless series of dawn to dusk sorties in difficult and daunting weather and terrain conditions, stretching to two weeks.
Operation Ganga Prahar was launched with more than 5,000 Army men fanning out across Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Uttarkashi and Pithoragarh districts of Uttarakhand and Saharanpur, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar and Pilibhit districts of Uttar Pradesh in order to rescue and provide relief to stranded civil population affected by unprecedented floods.
Army assistance Centres at Harsil, Rudraprayag, Joshimath, Mana, Gagriya, Govindghat and Dharchula have been providing shelter, food, first aid and fresh water to hundreds of pilgrims stranded at various locations due to torrential rain and swollen rivers. Eight quick-reaction medical teams established medical aid posts at a number of locations and four ambulance vehicles were deployed to evacuate injured people. In Uttarakhand, the Army undertook rescue and relief operations in four sectors: Harsil, Kedarnath, Joshimath and Dharchula.
An Army column evacuated 600 people across a rivulet by laying a temporary bridge of wooden logs. All the people were brought to safety. Two officers and 24 soldiers were inducted by helicopter into Sirsi near Gauri Kund, 17 km short of Kedarnath.
In Joshimath sector, with NH-58 washed away at Govindghat, more than 2,000 were evacuated on foot and housed in Joshimath, with 1,100 in Army shelters. Efforts were underway to lay cable bridge across Alaknanda to evacuate stranded Hemkund Sahib pilgrims, of which over 450 were evacuated initially. Hundreds of people were evacuated from low-lying areas of Dharchula and adjoining areas flooded by swollen Kali river.
Army columns continued the process of evacuating marooned villagers at Rawli 8 km west of Bijnor, with one Army relief column evacuating stranded people from Shamili and Daulatpur areas of Saharanpur district.
Two Army columns and Border Roads personnel cleared the road upto 30 km south of Dharasu on Rishikesh — Uttarkashi road. 200 people of Tharali village, 5 km north of Harsil were evacuated and brought to safety. Army launched a coordinated effort to first ensure safety of people and assist local administration in creating capability to sustain efforts in helping the people. Humanitarian assistance in terms of food, shelter, warm clothing and medical aid was provided across the regions. Surya Medical Emergency Helpline was of immense help to stranded pilgrims as more than 500 calls were received in 24 hours.
By June 19, 2013 it became one of the largest operations the Army and the Air Force in several decades, to provide massive rescue and relief operations in the flood and landslide affected areas of Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh while the Border Roads Organisation deployed 3,000 of its personnel and equipment, working for various projects, to clear the roads and to rescue the stranded people.
IAF’s C-130J aircraft was launched for reconnaissance mission as a part of “Op Rahat” besides deploying 20 aircraft which included eight MI 17, 10 ALH, one An-32 and 01-Avro to carry out constant missions from first light till sunset. While the C-130 J on recce mission flew over flood affected areas in Dehradun — Uttarkashi, Kedarnath and Joshimath to track the critical and facilitate further relief operations.
About 1,000 persons were evacuated by the helicopters who carried NDRF teams and dropped 9,000 kg of relief material since June 19, covering Phata, Guptkashi, Gaurikund, Kedarnath in Dehradun and Rampur, Karcham, Rincompeo and Sangla in Himachal. A Barreilly-based ALH rescued about 50 marooned villagers in the foothills using winch equipment. Four ALHs of the Sarang Display Team were also deployed for relief operations. One AN-32 aircraft from Agra landed at Jolly Grant air field carrying 10 NDRF personnel and three tonnes of tents and other essential items.
Army commenced Operation “Surya Hope” for providing succour, hope, humanitarian assistance and logistic needs in Badrinath, Hemkund and Kedarnath regions.
In the first phase, the Army teams carried out reconnaissance of area and air evacuation of isolated pockets along Govindghat-Badrinath road and Ghagriya-Hemkund track on 19 June and concentrated on isolated people at Badrinath and Ghagriya by 20 June. Focused air evacuation then commenced from both the places from 21 June onwards.
In the second phase, the Army covered the Kedarnath region. Reconnaissance of the area was undertaken and the troops were concentrated at Sonprayag and Kedarnath. All isolated people were transported to Sonprayag and Kedarnath on June 21 and air evacuation commenced from 22 June onwards. In both Badrinath and Kedarnath sectors Army inducted soldiers by helicopters who deployed every 2 km all along the roads to enable them to contact isolated people. Soldiers in place by June 20, provided leadership, succour, medical aid and engineer effort.
The Army initially inducted 12 medical teams and opened an emergency medical helpline. Beside 600 stranded civilians were given access to Army communications to facilitate them to contact their families.
The Army’s strength was eventually raised to over 8,000 troops, including Special Forces and by June 20 there were 15 Army helicopters augmenting the air effort.
Army initially evacuated 1,610 civilians in Uttarkashi district and provided shelter, food and medical aid to 1300 people.
In the Joshimath sector 3,034 civilians have been evacuated to Joshimath so far and provided shelter, food and warm clothing to 1,276 people. Army doctors treated 300 people in Joshimath, 150 in Harsil, and 70 in Rudraprayag.
Anil Bhat is defence and security analyst based in New Delhi