Why is joshimath sinking? Exploring natural and unnatural causes of the tragedy

The Joshimath town in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district is facing its worst crisis as hundreds of houses have developed cracks due to land subsidence. Over 600 families in Joshimath have

been rehabilitated on an urgent basis and the town has been declared a 'landslide subsidence zone', part of the reason being the rapid urbanisation it has undergone in the past few

years. Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, who is constantly reassuring the panicked residents of a solution, said that PM Narendra Modi is keeping a close watch on the situation after

chairing a high-level meeting over the issue on Sunday.  Joshimath is witnessing land subsidence, or in other words, it is 'sinking' due to multiple reasons both natural and

unnatural. Although the town endured a horrific glacier outburst in February 2021, large-scale urbanization due to the increased tourist footfall is one of the biggest reasons for the

tragedy. The glacier outburst was reported when a large chunk of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off causing overwhelming floods in the region and causing serious damage to the infrastructure.

_(Image: Twitter/@JairamRamesh)_ If the crisis is traced back several decades, we would find that Joshimath is based on an enormous amount of debris that accumulated due to a massive

landslide triggered by earthquake that occured over a century ago. This was the reason why the Mishra Committee, which published a report after conducting a ground survey in 1976, warned

that the fragile foundation of the town is why heavy construction must be avoided.  The experts in the report had also advised to ensure the preservation of trees. As we have all been

taught, forests are responsible for holding the soil together, and extensive deforestation would cause soil erosion, causing them to wash away. Apparently, the state governments ignored all

the warnings before sanctioning infrastructure projects in the area which falls under the seismic zone V. "Its location in seismic zone V (makes it) more prone to earthquakes besides

gradual weathering and water percolation which reduce the cohesive strength of the rocks over time," Kalachand Sain, director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology told PTI.

Similar suggestions were made in the Mishra committee report which warned against drilling and removing boulders for construction purposes.  This is likely the root cause of why Joshimath

residents are paying the price by as the town saw heightened developmental works, which is exactly experts had warned against decades ago. Located at a height of 6150 feet (1875 m),

Joshimath leads to sacred Hindu pilgrimages such as to Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib and skiing destination Auli and has emerged as the perfect halting site for tourists. And to cater to the

visitors, hundreds of hotels and homestays have been constructed by clearing forest areas.  Another factor, which if not stopped could prove catastrophic, is the ongoing construction of the

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) project. Citing the poor drainage system and unsystematic town planning, experts have warned that the construction of the hydropower plant must be

immediately stopped to prevent further damage. Meanwhile, a new ground report from a panel of experts from different institutions have recommended that houses with maximum damage in the town

must be demolished and people at risk must be evacuated immediately after identifying inhabitable areas. This team was comprised of experts from the National Disaster Management Authority,

IIT Roorkee, National Institute of Disaster Management, Geological Survey of India, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, NDRF, and NIH who conducted a survey on January 5-6.