Kishtwar Catastrophe

Mountains melted and washed away humans within a flicker of an eye! It looked like a doomsday. A series of cloudbursts wreaked havoc in the mountainous Chisoti village of Jammu’s Kishtwar district on August 14 just after noon.

The devotees on the way to pay obeisance at Machail Mata temple were shocked when they heard deafening sounds of cloudbursts in the upper reaches of Chisoti village, the last motorable village to the holy place.

Before they could run to safer places, a ferocious flash flood washed them away with its flow. So far there 65 casualties. over 100 injuries have been reported while over 70 are still missing. It was horrible and heart wrenching to see hapless families searching for bodies of their loved ones in the rubble. Chisoti, which reverberats with prayers by devotees, has turned into a graveyard. Those who survived shiver while recounting nature’s fury.

Located 90 kilometres from Kishtwar, Chisoti is a base camp for devotees to the 8.5 km treacherous route to Machail Mata Temple situated at 9500 feet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep concern over the cloudburst and subsequent flooding in Kishtwar district. He assured that every effort will be made to provide timely assistance to those impacted by the calamity. PM Modi and Home Mister Amit Shah are closely monitoring the rescue operation.

The tragic incident has brought the fragility of mountainous areas of Jammu and Kashmir once again into limelight. Though loss of lives at Chisoti could have been prevented had the adverse weather advisories been taken seriously. The monitoring of developing weather systems is mandatory in eco-fragile areas. And when the pilgrimage at large scale was going on, it was the responsibility of authorities to keep an eye on weather amid a series of alerts for heavy rains in hilly areas of Jammu region.

It is clear that authorities haven’t learnt lessons in the past in J&K. Over a decade has passed since devastating floods hit J&K, but it’s the same story. Authorities wake up and act after the disasters strike! When there were a series of cloudbursts in south Kashmir on September 7, 2014, authorities couldn’t set the alarm bells ringing in Srinagar. Sudden rise in water level in Jhelum trapped hundreds of people in their homes in Srinagar.

Amid climate change and erratic weather patterns in the Himalayas, there is a need to regulate movement of people in areas vulnerable to natural disasters. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who made on spot assessment of rescue and relief operations at Chisoti, rightly called for regulating religious gatherings.

In mountainous areas in the wake of changing weather patterns leading to disasters. There were clear indications of erratic weather patterns developing in the Himalayas. Last week we saw how the entire village was buried under mudslides in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district after cloudbursts. J&K in the last several years has been witnessing warm winters and prolonged dry spells in summer. Climate change mitigation must be the top priority of the government as J&K is the third vulnerable region to climate change in the Indian Himalayan Region.

Kashmir on July 5 this year witnessed the third hottest day ever at 37.4 degrees Celsius after over seven decades. The highest July temperature was recorded at 38.3 degrees Celsius in 1946, followed by 37.8 in 1953. This June was the hottest since 1978. The prolonged heat wave and dry spells are disturbing ecological balance in J&K. Dry winters are having disastrous effects on glaciers in Kashmir.

The drought-like situation in the last 5 years has expedited the retreating of most of the glaciers in the Kashmir Himalaya. Kolahoi, the largest glacier of Kashmir’s Jhelum Basin, has been melting rapidly due to a spurt in temperature triggered by global warming and extreme pollution. Thajiwas, Hoksar, Nehnar, Shishram, and glaciers around Harmukh are melting fast. Fast retreating of glaciers because of global warming and pollution has created glacial lakes, which can be disastrous, in various mountain ranges of J&K besides Ladakh. There is a massive risk of Glacial lake Outburst Floods in Kashmir.

It is ironic that authorities are not taking serious measures to safeguard the environment. We are losing our forests, water bodies, wetlands, mountains and springs to government apathy and public greed.

Environmental experts have been warning that J&K will experience frequent and longer droughts from the mid to end of the 21st century, thereby making it a new norm between 2051 and 2099 due to climate change. MY Tarigami, the Chairman of the Committee of Environment of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly’s Committee has rightly expressed grave concern over Chisoti incident and called for time-bound probe grave concern over the Kishtwar cloudburst, and demanded an urgent and time-bound inquiry into the tragic incident. Tarigami noted that deadly cloudburst has once again brought into focus the vulnerability of Jammu and Kashmir’s Himalayan region to extreme weather events like flash floods, landslides, and avalanches.

We cannot prevent natural disasters but we can create disaster resilience. Disaster management must move from workshops to ground level. We must learn to live in harmony with nature. It is the duty of the government and people to join hands to preserve natural assets and maintain ecological balance. We must understand that nature takes its revenge. If we don’t stop inflicting damage to nature, it can strike back anytime!

Author is Executive Editor,

Greater Kashmir