Uttarakhand toll may run into several thousands, CM terms it as Himalayan tsunami

Dehradun/Rishikesh/Joshimath, Jun 19: The terrible magnitude of nature's fury in Uttarakhand unfolded today as the death toll rose to 150 with fears that it may go up substantially as large parts remained under water while hundreds of houses and buildings lay in ruins.After an aerial survey of the affected areas, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a Rs 1,000 crore aid to the state where large-scale devastation has occurred.Skies cleared today enabling stepping up of rescue and relief operations but the efforts were hampered by the vast destruction of the roads caused by landslips and flash floods that damaged hundreds of houses, buildings, hotels and government guest houses.Several thousand pilgrims from across the country are still stranded in the state as reports came that the Kedarnath temple, one of the four holy dhams, was intact but the temple complex and the Rambada area around it have suffered total destruction.“Very heavy casualties are feared and I cannot give the exact number without a proper survey,” said Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna who described the flood ravage as unprecedented caused by a “Himalayan tsunami”.Singh and Congress President made an aerial survey of the affected areas and described what they saw as “most distressing”.He announced Rs 1,000 crore aid for the state for disaster relief of which Rs 145 crore is being released immediately.“I have also directed all Central agencies to render all possible assistance in their domain to the state,” he told reporters on his return.The Prime Minister said it is feared that the loss of lives could eventually be much higher.“So far, more than 10,000 people have been rescued and are being provided food, clothing and shelter. Many persons still remain stranded. The maximum damage has been in Kedarnath and its vicinity,” he said.Bahuguna, who described the scale of the devastation as unimaginable, said it would take one year for normal yatra to Kedarnath to be restored.The first priority is to rescue the stranded people especially those on pilgrimage from various parts of the country, distribution of medicines and rehabilitation and compensation for the affected, he said.Uttarakhand Principal Secretary (Home) Om Prakash said the death toll in the state has gone up to 150 but was not in a position to give the exact estimate since several villages in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts in the upper reaches were still under water.The state and Central governments have deployed all possible resources to deal with the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.About 5,500 jawans and officers of the army, 3,000 men of the Border Roads Organisation and 600 ITBP personnel are engaged in relief and rescue efforts.Thirteen teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been put into work. The Air Force has deployed 18 helicopters and C130 aircraft. Private helicopters are also being engaged by the state government.State Home Secretary Om Prakash told reporters that at least 150 people have been killed in flashfloods, cloudbursts and landslides.The toll may rise as the process of recovery of bodies has not yet started at many places which are marooned,” he said.Union Home Secretary R K Singh also toured the affected areas in the three districts and held a meeting with senior government officials at the Jollygrant airport to brief them about how to deal with the situation.The Chief Minister said that the priority as of now was to evacuate the stranded people at different places and distribute food packets and medicines among them.Once the stranded people are evacuated to safety, the process of recovering bodies trapped in the debris of collapsed houses, mud and slush will begin,” he told reporters.Eight more bodies have been recovered from the Kedarnath Wildlife Sancturay and 2,700 stranded pilgrims have been evacuated to safe locations by ITBP and Army Jawans in Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts.Evacuation of pilgrims from Badrinath has begun where 12,000 persons are still stranded, he said.With scores of bodies trapped in debris at different places across the state beginning to decay, the threat of an outbreak of epidemic also looms large on the hill state, officials opined.However, there is no reason to panic as teams of doctors from the National Disaster Management Authority have already been sent to the affected areas, they said.Rudraprayag SDM L N Mishra who is overseeing rescue operations at Agastya Muni a place with a population of about 2 lakh in the district, said there will be food crisis if people stranded there are not evacuated within two days.Hundreds of buildings including hotels and government guest houses along the banks of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi have been swept away by the floods with 40 hotels washed away in Rudraprayag district alone.The premier officers training academy of paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in Srinagar in Garhwal has been damaged in heavy rains and floods in Uttarakhand with the preliminary estimate of loss put at around Rs 90 crore.The main building area and campus of the academy have been extensively damaged after the Alaknanda river changed its course due to heavy rains and dumped six-feet silt on the facility.“It is a big damage to our academy in Uttarakhand. Fortunately there have been no casualties and we have sent our officers and other staff to safe locations,” SSB chief Arun Chaudhary told PTI today.Chaudhary said the initial assessment of the damage to the academy is estimated at around Rs 90 crore.The Director General will visit the spot tomorrow to assess the damage even as he instructed his men to join relief and rescue operations in the state along with other security agnecies.All the training courses in the institution have been suspended.The academy trains young SSB officers in the ranks of Assistant Commandant while it also runs refresher service courses for senior officers of paramilitary and police forces.Major portions of the academy including dining rooms, living area and administrative quarters have been washed away or damaged by the rains, a senior SSB officer said.The repair works would be initiated once the weather situation eases, the officer said.The SSB guards Indian frontiers with Bhutan and Nepal.The rain and flood situation in Uttarakhand is quite serious and unprecedented, chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) today said here.DG Ajay Chadha said rescue operations will gather pace as the weather has improved today and three battalions of the force (about 3,000 troops) deployed in the state have rescued thousands of people.“Things are quite unprecedented in Uttarakhand. Situation is grim and quite serious. A number of factors have contributed to this situation like avalanche, cloud burst and continuous rains,” Chadha said before leaving for an aerial review of the state along with Union Home Secretary R K Singh and other ministry officials.About 4,000 people have been rescued by the force from the Govindghat area, he said.He said it would be difficult to give an exact number as to how many people have been stranded and rescued as a number of agencies are operating.Additional reinforcements are ready, if required, for Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh where the situation is “not so serious”.The famous Kedarnath shrine located in the Himalayan ranges in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand is now safe but will remain out of bounds for at least one year, said the state Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today.“I don't think we can resume the Yatra there for one year. 18 km of the road has been damaged and Kedarnath is in debris. The temple has been saved but there is eight to ten feet of debris all around,” said Bahuguna. He reiterated that there was lot of deris around the shrine, dedicated to Lord Shiva, and it would require at least one year to clear it.“Kedarnath shrine will remain out of bounds for pilgrims for one year,” said the chief minister. He also announced that Rudraprayag was the worst affected district and about 500 roads and 175 bridges in Uttarakhand have been washed out in the flash flood. One of the two helipads in Kedarnath has been washed away due to which helicopters are making sorties to rescue people from one helipad, said Bahugana.“The magnitude of the devastation could not be gauged as such a flood has been experienced in 100 years. Roads between Gaurikund and Kedarnath have been washed out, Rambada has been totally ravaged,” the Chief Minister told reporters.Many of the roads are in bad shape due to which army jawans and other paramilitary personnel are unable to reach the stranded tourists and pilgrims, said Bahuguna, adding that there is “anger among the people but we are doing our best”.“There are some places where army and paramilitary personnel have reached the stranded people and provided them food packets but still there are many places where it is impossible to reach even by helicopter, so we appeal to the villagers in those areas to provide food and water to the stranded pilgrims and tourists,” he said.Making an appeal to corporate houses to join the relief work, Bahuguna said they should come forward and join hands in the relief operations.Parts of Uttarakhand experienced flash floods triggered by incessant rains over the past three days which has left 150 people dead and thousands others, most of them tourists and pilgrims, stranded. The Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi undertook an aerial survey of the rain-affected regions.Pictures of the Kedarnath temple, one of the holiest of the Hindu shrines, in today's newspapers had raised concerns over the safety of the shrine.Located in the Himalayas at a height of 3584 meters near the Chorabari glacier, the Kedarnath temple is a popular destination for Hindu pilgrims from all over the world.Over 10,000 personnel of the armed forces, 18 helicopters and a transport plane of the Air Force have been deployed for relief and rescue operations in the state where thousands have been stranded at tourist spots and pilgrim centres.