The ravage in Uttarakhand

Nature's furies are not unheard of. Nature as we know it, has enormous resilience and tends to retain homeostasis, adjusting to all perturbations transpiring around. Earth has been doing great with its carrying capacity, and with some tweaks here and there it has managed to stay well accommodating all of us. For how long it can hold on, that is a thought facing permanent denial from our side. 

Nature does has its ways of rejuvenating. That has been observed on the course of evolution, appearance and disappearance of species and landscapes. How is it that man has any role to play in this? Well, human beings have made use of nature and its resources to all possible extents, sometimes thoughtfully, and most of the times, rashly. This leads to increased and elevated levels of disturbance, and hence more frequent requirement for nature to adjust itself. Its ironic how majority of us believe in God's nature and yet fail to respect it or to self-analyze our roles in destroying that sanctity. And in the end, when nature reacts to these disturbances, God is put on stands for showing his fury.

The recent havoc wreaking in Uttarakhand has brought us to reconsider the picture and ponder upon what lies behind all this.Considering the massive loss of life and property due to the floods and landslides, and looking at the dire necessity of measures to be taken to improve the situation, this question becomes all the more important to ask, even though how logically inappropriate it may seem. What caused the nature to be so ireful? 

Its high time now that we look into the facts, understand them and accept them, rather than clad ourselves in religious beliefs and balderdash. What caused the rocks to fall, the lands to slide, the rivers to erupt, here are the reasons
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/man-made-reasons-uttarakhand-disaster
http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/100/11/1617.pdf

• Unscientifically planned road construction

Himalayas are one of the youngest mountain ranges on earth, and because of the types of evolutionary processes behind their formation, they are not quite stable. If the geologic and environmental considerations are not reckoned with during road construction and widening, such landslides are just waiting to happen. Road widening would cause the slopes to become steeper and hence more vulnerable to excessive rainfall.

• Unplanned urban development

Urban planning is very important in such sensitive areas, and poor decisions by government and policy makers can lead to improper urban expansion thus obstructing drainage of rain water.

• Hydro-projects

The rising pressure for development and exploitation of resources in these areas have led to numerous hydro-power projects and dam construction over Ganga and its tributaries. This leads to large scale land use change and only accelerates the damage.

• Religious tourism

The most controversial reason, yet the major cause of everything. Motivated by religious beliefs, the mass of tourists that flock these areas, have demanded better infrastructure to reach the holy sites, and this tourist demand has led to rapid urban establishment in and around these vulnerable areas. The surge of vehicles carrying tourists and the heavy machinery rolling around for building construction have damaged the environment in these areas beyond repair. This tourist crowd has been increasing rapidly over the years, with surmounting pressure over the Himalayan soil.

• Deforestation

Trees hold the soil intact. Deforestation for different construction work has led to loose soil that contributes to landslides and massive debris flow.

• Rainfall

Rainfall might be the only major natural trigger for these disasters, apart from the inherent geology and geomorphology of these mountain ranges. Cloud bursts and excessive downpour on these steep slopes can instigate floods, but the dramatic changes of these lands due to human intervention has compounded that effect. It is clear from the prevalence of floods and landslides in these areas in the past years what role man has played in causing them.

For the recent disasters, the worst might have passed, but there is still a lot to be said and done. The relief measures are going on, trying to secure the people stuck in miserable conditions, bringing them back to safety and providing them with the necessary medical and food supplies. Plans are yet to start on reestablishing life in the damaged areas. There is something for everyone to talk about here. The losses, miseries and sufferings of people who made it to the end speak volumes. The army's heroic acts of selfless service to their nation need no words of expression. All other talks are more of the non-silent kind. The media providing updates from the flood stricken areas often asking ridiculous questions to the sufferers, politicians throwing words at each other like pots and pans, at the same time trying to keep themselves as unobtrusive as possible, central and state governments focusing their efforts to inculpate each other over any kind of shortcoming in the remediation measures. There will be questions about improper road and other infrastructure construction, and steps might be taken to incorporate well-researched planning for the rehabilitation. Hopefully these important considerations don't get neglected in the debates and striving competition for faster development.

The popular and deeply rooted religious beliefs are to be seriously scrutinized here. People need to understand that their own irrational faiths with absolutely no grounds whatsoever have led to pressures for anthropogenic development and exploitation in vulnerable areas. Building spiritual tourist sites in fragile natural areas because of the demand, with inappropriate planning and inadequate remedial measures will eventually show its cost, and no one other than us will be to blame. If we stay focused on building a temple and how to reach it, rather than giving sufficient insight to the pros and cons of such a construction, we are just inviting more landslide like disasters to happen. For the God loving people, if you believe that nature is his creation, then one should probably understand that God does not like someone messing up with his art. The scientific facts are out there, but still if facts are not your cup of tea, and God's abode is what you seek, then his message is very clear here; he is tired of all the prayers and expectations and these visits, he needs some alone time. So please, let him rest for a while.