A terrible wrath of nature has been witnessed on the world famous Kedarnath Dham Yatra route located in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand. Amidst the continuous heavy rains, a sudden massive landslide on the inaccessible walking track between Gaurikund and Kedarnath caused devastation. A 5-year-old innocent child died tragically after being hit by the huge amount of debris, heavy boulders and stones that fell from the hill, while some other devotees suffered minor injuries. Immediately after the incident, there was shouting and chaos on the travel route. As soon as the information was received, teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), local police and district administration immediately reached the spot and started a massive rescue operation on war footing. Considering the seriousness of the accident, the local administration temporarily stopped the movement of devotees going to Kedarnath with immediate effect. According to eyewitnesses, when the pilgrims were moving forward on foot chanting the praises of Baba Kedar, a huge chunk of stone and soil fell directly on the path with a heavy thud from the hill slope above. The high speed of the debris did not even give the passengers a chance to recover. The desperate family members somehow saved their lives, but the 5-year-old child got trapped under the heavy pressure of the debris. After a lot of effort, the rescue team pulled the child out of the debris and took him to the nearest primary health center, where doctors declared him dead. After this sad news, there is a wave of mourning in Kedarghati. Mega operation of SDRF and NDRF: 1100 pilgrims rescued overnight. After the accident, hundreds of pilgrims were trapped on both sides of the footpath. Despite continuous falling stones and darkness, the rescue teams displayed indomitable courage and conducted a massive joint rescue operation. The risky area was crossed with the help of ropes and safety equipment under the supervision of SDRF, police and sector magistrate. The administration showed promptness and safely evacuated more than 1100 devotees trapped in the dangerous zone and took them to Sonprayag, Gaurikund and other safe stops. A large number of stranded passengers included women, elderly and small children, who were accommodated at safe places and provided food, hot water, medicines and first aid. Senior officials of Rudraprayag district administration camped overnight and did real-time monitoring of the entire relief and rescue operations. The rescued passengers expressed gratitude for the prompt action of the administration and security forces. The administration says that the relief work continued with full vigor until the last devotee was safely evacuated from that sensitive area. Sensitive zones and weather patterns: Why are landslides happening again and again on Kedarnath route? Many areas around Jangalchatti, Bhimbali, Lincholi and Chhani Camp on the Kedarnath walking route are considered geologically extremely sensitive and fragile. Rock slides on these steep slopes become extremely common due to excessive monsoon rains and loose mountain soil. Geologists and disaster management experts say that due to excessive moisture, the grip of the mountains becomes weak, due to which the boulders start falling down without any prior warning. These types of natural disasters pose serious risks to both hikers and mule operators. Teams of the Disaster Management Department are now engaged in the work of removing the huge debris accumulated on the footpath and leveling the path with heavy Pokeland and JCB machines. However, the road restoration work is being hampered due to intermittent rains and small stones continuously falling from above. Giving top priority to security, the administration has directed PWD and related construction agencies to activate additional safety netting on both sides of the route and watch towers at sensitive places so that information about any danger can be received in advance. Administration's strict advisory for pilgrims: Appeal to postpone the journey till the weather clears. After this tragic incident, the Uttarakhand government and Rudraprayag district administration have issued a detailed and strict security advisory for all the devotees from India and abroad coming on Kedarnath Yatra. The administration has appealed to the devotees to plan their journey only after seeing the latest weather forecast of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the official bulletin of the administration. Till the weather becomes normal and the route is declared technically safe, passengers have been advised to stay at the safe passenger halts at Rishikesh, Haridwar, Srinagar and Rudraprayag. Pilgrims have been instructed not to take any risk of walking on the foot track after dark or during heavy rain. Use only registered and authorized routes and avoid any shortcuts or alternative forest routes. The district disaster control room and police helpline numbers have been kept operational 24 hours for help in emergency situations. The administration clearly states that the safety of every devotee along with the darshan of Baba Kedar is of paramount importance, and the Yatra will be restarted in a phased manner only after the route is completely smooth.
