Joshimath crisis: Expert panel recommends demolition of houses with significant damage

Joshimath was built on an ancient landslide site, and has always had low bearing capacity. (Photo: Vaibhav via Wikimedia Commons)

An expert panel tasked with assessing damage to buildings and ground subsidence in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, has submitted a provisional report and recommended that houses with significant damage be demolished.

The eight-member expert panel is headed by Secretary, Emergency Management Department, Ranjit Sinha. It has studied the situation and sent its report to the central and state governments.

The eight-member panel has also advised that areas deemed uninhabitable be identified and that the relocation of at-risk residents should be the top priority. However, it has requested more time to carry out geo-technical, geo-physical and seismic investigations.

“The team has submitted its provisional report and asked for more time to carry out further investigations. It may take around a month to carry out full investigation of the area. We require geo-technical, geo-physical and seismic investigation, building damage assessment and soil strength investigation reports. None of these is available. Even the Mishra Committee report is based on simple physical investigation,” a state government official told Moneycontrol.

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The team is getting all these investigations done and only then the main reasons for the sinking of Joshimath town will be ascertained. “Only then will we know what is happening inside, where is the muddy water coming from. Unless we get the technical and hydrological investigations done, we will not be able to ascertain what is happening but all this will take some time. We have given them one month and asked them to submit the report as soon as possible,” the official said.

Shifting people

The government’s priority right now is to shift the affected people to temporary shelter homes. It has identified a few lands and geological investigation of those lands needs to be conducted before residents are relocated there, officials said, adding in parallel they are coordinating with the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) to design prefab structures.

Around 600 families have been identified till now. “The exact number of residents that need to be relocated will be known after the survey is completed. Our priority is to relocate them to a safe place for now,” the official said.

Also Read: Why Joshimath is sinking, and its larger environmental repercussions

The government has identified a few lands adjacent to Joshimath for permanently relocating the residents. “One is in Koti Colony behind Auli, the land measures close to around 2-3 hectares, we have also identified two-hectare land in Pipalkoti and one horticulture department land close to Joshimath,” the official said.

“We have to conduct a geological investigation for their (lands) stability first.”

The damage

Officials also told Moneycontrol that only parts of Joshimath have been affected. “The parts that have been affected, we have to look at stabilising the slopes. For that, we require a detailed geo-technical investigation. During our field investigation, we have seen that there are a few wards in which structures have become unsafe due to landslides and cracks have developed. But the entire town has not been impacted. Parts towards the higher Himalayas have been impacted,” the official said.

The panel led by Ranjit Sinha, secretary of the disaster management department, conducted a field survey of Joshimath on January 5-6.

Relief and rescue efforts have been intensified in Joshimath after it was declared a landslide and subsidence-hit zone, with the Centre on January 8 stressing that the immediate priority is the safety of people and asking experts to prepare short- and long-term plans for conservation and rehabilitation.

The relief efforts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and reviewed the situation, including the steps taken so far for the safety and rehabilitation of residents, and assured him of necessary assistance.

The Uttarakhand chief secretary had said that state and district officials with the support of central experts have assessed the situation on the ground and informed that a strip of land with a width of around 350 metres is affected, the Prime Minister's Office said on January 8 after holding a high-level review meeting.

Chief Minister Dhami visited the affected areas in Joshimath on January 7 and held a meeting with officials in Dehradun on his return and asked them to relax the norms to expedite relief operations.

Geological experts have said the ongoing crisis in Joshimath is primarily on account of anthropogenic activities. The population has increased manifold and so have tourists. Unchecked infrastructure development is also a prime reason for the crisis.