Joshimath Crisis Explained for Civil Services(IAS, OAS,etc) Exams

Joshimath crisis: What is land subsidence and why does it happen?

Imagine that you are relaxing in your home with your family and relatives,

celebrating the New Year,

and suddenly, there's a loud noise.

Normally, you'd think that the noise

would be a harbinger of a war-like situation.

Or some socio-political crisis.

But this was nothing of the sort.

On 2nd January 2023,

a 52-year-old resident of Joshimath, Prakash Bhotiyal,

was sleeping peacefully at night,

when he was jolted awake,

by a loud noise.

When he woke up to check what happened,

He saw that the walls of his house had large cracks.

Cracks that appeared

not in one of the rooms,

but in 9 of the 11 rooms in his house.

Prakash shifted all 11 members of his family to the remaining 2 rooms.

Since then, his entire family has been living in those 2 rooms.

It's worrisome because

In the near future, these 2 rooms will not remain safe.

Because similar cracks have been spotted in about 700 buildings in Joshimath.

The entire city is sinking into the ground.

"Joshimath, the city which serves as

Lord Badrinath's winter residence,

is sinking."

"The cracks have appeared not just in 1 place,

but in different parts of the town."

"These cracks have developed as a result of

continued land subsidence."

"The 17,000 residents have been

sounding the alarm about worsening subsidence."

"All tenants have left."

Joshimath is an important place.

In Uttrakhand's Chamoli district,

at an altitude of 1,800 meters,

you will find this city

with a population of around 23,000 people.

Badrinath shire, one of the most

important pilgrimage spots for Hindus,

is located quite close to this city.

Around 45 km from here.

Apart from that, the city Auli lies nearby.

A famous place for skiing.

And the government is trying to

promote it as an international skiing destination.

There are several trekking trails nearby,

And it's close to the Indo-China border as well.

This is why there's a major Indian Army Base in Joshimath

and a strategic road that goes to the Indo-Tibetian border.

Reportedly, large cracks have appeared on this road as well.

Since Joshimath's location is so important.

Over the past few decades, large-scale construction has been seen in the town.

Of hotels, restaurants, and other establishments.

It is claimed that the city

came into existence only a hundred years ago.

That there was an earthquake nearby,

that caused a landslide,

and many rocks tumbled down and settled in this area.

Over time, the rocks stabilized,

and the city was built on top of it.

But the problem was, this made the land not suitable for construction.

Especially for dams or wide roads to be built in this area.

Or for building highways.

Because infrastructure projects of this scale,

often require the use of explosives and drilling.

Tunnels have to be drilled into mountains,

explosives are used,

but doing so, weakens the slope.

According to the Seismic Zonation Map of India,

Joshimath area falls in Zone 5.

The highest risk zone for earthquakes.

Buildings in Joshimath getting cracks isn't a new event.

This has been happening for a long time.

In October 2021,

residents of Gandhinagar and Sunil Wards in Joshimath

noticed cracks in their homes.

Some months later, in mid-2022,

residents of Ravigram spotted cracks in their homes too.

In September 2022,

the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority,

published a report

in which they blamed

the ill-planned construction.

They claimed that there were no proper drainage systems,

and people were carrying out construction without proper planning,

and eventually, it leads to more problems.

This issue has been discussed by the media only recently,

because now the problem has escalated so much

that every fourth house has a crack.

The entire city has started sinking,

and it cannot be ignored any longer.

Thousands of people will become homeless.

More than 80 families have been relocated from their homes,

and the National Disaster Response Force and the Border Security Forces

have been carrying out the evacuations.

The biggest question to arise here is that

Who is at fault?

If TV News Channels are to be believed,

the residents of Joshimath are to be blamed.

They built homes in such a sensitive place.

What else were they expecting?

That they shouldn't have engaged in unplanned construction.

And the locals blame the government.

The government blames the builders and development planners.

And the builders blame the mountains.

The mountains are at fault.

In reality, though, the city's residents deserve the least blame.

If private hotels are built in an unplanned way,

or other buildings for that matter.,

The duty to stop that construction falls on the government.

Additionally, checking the wastewater disposal

and managing the drainage systems,

is the government's job.

It's true that some things cannot be controlled.

Such as the natural disasters that occur.

The natural erosions,

but even the natural causes, can be blamed on

human development and climate change.

Due to Climate Change, it is estimated that

over the next 2 decades,

the average temperature of Uttarakhand,

will increase by more than 2°C.

Such a rise in temperature means that

the ice will melt.

The rainfall patterns will change,

Natural disasters like flash floods and landslides,

will have a higher chance of occurrence.

The crop seasons will change,

and it will affect the farmers dearly.

These are already happening.

This article from 2 years ago,

on how farmers from Uttarakhand were already migrating due to climate change.

But Climate Change is a major issue, albeit a separate issue,

It can be blamed indirectly and only to a small extent for the Joshimath crisis.

So let's focus on the direct causes.

The first direct cause is said to be

the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project.

It is a hydro-electric project

whose construction began in 2006,

and the construction is still going on.

A tunnel was dug out for this project

that goes right under Joshimath.

As it is alleged.

Geologists M. P. S. Bisht and Piyoosh Rautela published a paper in 2010,

titled Disaster Looms Large Over Joshimath.

In their research paper, they mentioned that

that particular project

can single handedly change the landscape of Joshimath.

And can put Joshimath in danger.

But why?

They mentioned that in December 2009,

during the construction of this project,

the equipment that was being used,

during the construction the equipment

punctured an aquifer in Joshimath.

An aquifer is a kind of underground structure,

that is surrounded by rocks.

Basically, you can think of this as a large pit underground,

a well, that naturally exists,

where the groundwater is stored naturally.

They claimed that a tunnel-boring machine was used,

that punctured this aquifer,

about 5 km from Joshimath.

By puncturing, they meant that

there was a hole at the corner of this aquifer,

from where the groundwater started leaking.

They said that due to the puncture,

every day, 70 million liters of groundwater is discharged.

About 700 to 800 liters per second.

According to this 2010 paper,

this water would have been otherwise

sufficient to sustain 2-3 million people each day.

However, there were no scientific studies into this,

that's why, to blame it as the direct cause for sure,

there's not enough proof.

That's why NTPC, the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited,

the company building this hydro-power project,

have claimed that the tunnel is not at fault.

That the tunnel is not the reason why the city is sinking.

NTPC claims that the tunnel isn't dug under Joshimath.

That they dug this tunnel 1 km away from Joshimath,

and 1 km underground.

The second direct cause,

is said to be a 6 km long road.

The Helong-Marwari Bypass,

That's currently under construction.

This is a part of the 800 km long Char Dham Project,

a project that was inaugurated in 2016 by Prime Minister Modi

at a cost of around ₹120 Billion.

In December 2022, the Modi government

requested Supreme Court's approval for the second time,

to construct a Bypass in the Char Dham Project.

The Champawat Bypass.

Both times, the Supreme Court refused to grant approval.

Geologist Navin Juyal,

a member of the High Power Committee appointed by the Supreme Court.

Reviewed the Char Dham Project

and said that some of the members suggested

that the road should not be built

until the geotechnical feasibility study of the area is conducted.

But he claims that their suggestions were completely ignored,

and the road was permitted to be built,

without waiting for any scientific reports.

Here, he was referring to the Helong-Marwari Bypass road.

The locals claim that during the construction of the road,

they witnessed explosives and drilling being employed.

"Right now we are standing 1 km away

from Joshimath.

It is 01:52 AM in the morning,

And you can see stone crushing,

happening under the nose of

Chamoli District Administration."

Now that the media is picking up on the news,

the construction of this road under the Char Dham Project,

has been temporarily stopped.

I told you that near Joshimath, there's another city called Auli.

It has a ski resort.

And so there's a cable car ropeway as well.

The pillars of the ropeway show signs of damage.

Overall, the problem can simply be classified

as a problem of sustainable development.

Something that we were taught in schools.

The land that is sinking here,

is known as Land Subsidence in English.

There can be several reasons for Land Subsidence,

the Earth's crust is moving due to an earthquake.

This is a natural cause,

but there can be man-made causes as well.

Such as groundwater removal.

The thing is that when the groundwater is used up or removed

the rocks and land that the water was holding up,

crumble and start sinking.

Geologists believe that Jakarta in Indonesia

is one of the Fastest Sinking Cities in the world,

and even there, 80% of the reason is said to be this.

Friends, you might be shocked to know that

the problem of Land Subsidence in Joshimath,

was identified nearly 50 years ago.

In 1976, MC Mishra Committee was formed,

that identified the reasons behind this phenomenon.

They published their report

It is the oldest report on Joshimath's Land Subsidence problem.

In this report, they warned that

the rocks there should not be disturbed,

that there should be no digging or explosives in the area,

the report even pointed out that the drainage facility in the city wasn't proper.

That was further abetting the problem,

and causing more landslides.

After this, in 2006,

the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG),

published another report.

The report stated that there might be an eventual collapse,

of the entire city.

That the drainage services needed repairs.

In 2013, a Committee appointed by the Supreme Court,

identified the hydro-power projects in Uttarakhand,

as a significant hazard to the area,

the construction of hydro-power projects.

But did the governments pay heed to these warnings?

Instead, in 2019, the government said that

all hydro-power projects of more than 25 Megawatts,

should be given faster clearances,

and be given the status of Renewable Projects.

Renewable energy is a step in the right direction,

but the projects need to be started only after extensive research,

conducting scientific studies,

on whether building those projects will be a positive step.

Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti,

is a group that since 2004,

has been protesting against NTPC's Vishnugad Hydro Power Project.

They believe that the situation that Joshimath is in,

is due to this Hydro-power project.

"The satellite images that have been published

show that in 12 days,

Joshimath has sunk 5.4 cm."

Now, the problems that Joshimath is going through,

is a warning sign for the towns and cities in the surrounding areas.

There are several towns nearby in the Chamoli district.

Such as Karnaprayag and Gopeshwar.

Issues of land subsidence has been reported in these areas as well.

The biggest fact is that as per ISRO's latest report,

this land subsidence cannot be reversed.

Over the last 12 days,

Since 27th December to 8th January,

there has been land subsidence of a total of 5.5 cm in Joshimath.

If you compare this to the last 7 months,

from April to November,

the subsidence was around 9 cm.

These photos were released by ISRO'S National Remote Sensing Centre.

We will have to see whether

the government takes action to prevent such future disasters,

whether the government learns a lesson from Joshimath.

For now, the government has promised

to pay ₹5,000 per month per family to the families in Joshimath,

it was later revised when the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand came to visit.

To ₹150,000 per family.

But the locals are demanding compensation of ₹500,000.

Joshimath is being evacuated now

and experts suggest that after the evacuation,

the drainage system, rainwater outlets, need to be replanned,

and there should be a rock strength assessment,

to determine the sustainability and strength of these rocks.

If you are worried that the area you live in,

is undergoing a problem of land subsidence

you can identify it by some characteristics.

You do not have to worry about each small crack in your walls.

If the land is sinking,

the cracks will be more than at least 3 mm,

These cracks will broaden as they travel up,

and will remain narrow at the base.

These cracks are seen both internally and externally.

They won't be on only one side of the wall.

And usually, these cracks will be near the doors and windows.

Remember these differences,

because usually, humidity may also cause cracks in the walls,

when the walls swell up.

You don't have to worry about those.

I hope that the article was informative as always.