Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami shook a leg with the family members of the rescued workers who were trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel for more than 15 days. After rescue work for more than 400 hours, all the 41 workers were successfully evacuated on November 28. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who said disasters cannot be stopped but their impact can be reduced by advance preparedness and asserted that "proactive approach" is the only way to deal with them.
Rescuers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency operation after almost 17 days. The trapped workers were rescued safely out of the tunnel on Tuesday evening. The rescue efforts had started on November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed following a landslide, cutting off the exit for the workers inside.
'Need for integrating all responses'
Disasters cannot be prevented but if preparation is done beforehand then their impact can be reduced, he said. The chief minister also underlined the need to create a better disaster management system with "coordination of ecology, economy and technology". He also stressed the need for integrating all responses during disasters, saying uniformity of response can reduce both damage and loss of life.
A portion of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, blocking the exit for the workers who were inside. Food, medicines and other essentials were sent to them through a six-inch pipe pushed through the rubble of the collapsed portion.
