Centre’s Key Meet On Plans To Save ‘Sinking’ Uttarakhand Town: 10 Facts

New Delhi: Central agencies are assisting the Uttarakhand government to prepare plans and rescue teams are on standby after hundreds of buildings in Joshimath developed cracks, sources told NDTV after the Prime Minister’s office reviewed the situation.

Here are the top points in this big story:

1. The experts are preparing a short, medium and long term plan to deal with the crisis at hand, officials told NDTV.
2. For years, experts have warned that large-scale construction work, including hydropower projects, in and around Joshimath could lead to land subsidence – the sinking or settling of the ground surface.
3. A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and four teams of the state disaster force are stationed in Joshimath. The affected families are being shifted to safe locations, NDTV has learnt.
4. “A clear time-bound reconstruction plan must be prepared. Continuous seismic monitoring must be done. Using this opportunity, a risk sensitive urban development plan for Joshimath should also be developed,” the PMO said in a statement.
5. Secretary Border Management and members of the National Disaster Management Authority or NDMA are to visit the state tomorrow and review the situation, sources told NDTV after the review meet by the PM’s office.
6. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who visited the affected areas today, held a meeting with officials and asked them to relax norms to expedite relief operations.
7. The National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, and the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, have been asked to conduct a study of Joshimath through satellite imagery and submit a detailed report with photographs.
8. Locals say climate change and constant infrastructure development are to blame. Experts argue that a variety of factors — relating to both human activity and natural — have led to the subsidence.
9. All construction activities in and around Joshimath in the state’s Chamoli district, including mega projects like the Chardham all-weather road (Helang- Marwari bypass) and the NTPC’s hydel project, have been halted on the demand of residents.
10. Joshimath falls under one of the country’s most seismically active regions — officially classified as Zone-V (very severe intensity zone).