The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released satellite images of Joshimath, Uttarakhand and a preliminary report on land subsidence which shows that the entire Joshimath may sink. The pictures by NRSC are taken from the Cartosat-2S satellite.
The images show that the entire town, including Army’s helipad and the Narasimha mandir, has been marked as sensitive zones.
The satellite images also show that the Joshimath-Auli road is also going to collapse due to land subsidence.
Based on ISRO’s report, Uttarakhand Government is running rescue operations in sensitive and danger-prone areas, and people in these areas are being shifted to safer places.
According to the report, land subsidence was slow between April to November 2022, during which the town had sunk by 8.9 cm. But between December 27, 2022, and January 8, 2023, the intensity of land subsidence increased at a rapid pace, and the town sank by 5.4 cm in just 12 days.
Although scientists are still studying the cracks that appeared in the houses and roads after the land subsidence, the findings in the primary report of ISRO are frightening.
The Chamoli district administration has declared the sacred Joshimath town a land-subsidence zone after hundreds of houses developed cracks within a few days. Families had to be relocated as their residences were identified as sensitive.
Meanwhile, on January 12, the Uttarakhand Government announced a relief package of Rs 45 crore to families in Joshimath, where large cracks appeared in homes and roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has released the relief package for nearly 3,000 families affected by gradual land subsidence in the Himalayan state.
“For the time being, interim assistance of Rs 1.50 Lakh per family is being given. An advance amount of Rs 1 lakh has been given to the affected land owners or families due to landslides in the affected area before the permanent settlement displacement policy is prepared,” CM Dhami added.
Further, the Chief Minister also announced that Rs 50,000 have been given by the State disaster authority to each family as a non-adjustable one-time special grant for the transportation of goods and immediate needs of their buildings.
Over 720 buildings have been identified so far that developed cracks due to landslides in the Joshimath city area. Residents, as a part of the rehabilitation, have been moved to safer places even as geologists and experts scramble to ascertain the reasons for subsidence in the ecologically fragile region.
As of now, the officials have stopped construction projects in the region, and the Government has formed a committee to look into the incident and the situation arising out of the sudden crisis.
Joshimath is the home to the monastery of Adi Sankaracharya and the gateway to the Badrinath Dham. In India’s seismic zonation scheme, the town is also in Zone V, denoting the highest risk.
