It has been more than a week now since massive deluge hit Dharali and adjoining areas in Harshil in quaint and beautiful valley of Uttarakhand. Now for than two weeks it has been raining heavily in the hills of North Himalayan States, Uttarakhand and Dehradun, which is my birth place and where I reside. The rains have broken records (Intensity which was not seen in last 70 odd year). Nullahs are overflowing, loss to property has taken place. It has again opened the discussion of river plains, how encroachment has made these areas vulnerable. Over so many years the rivers/nullahs did not overflow, we thought they will never, we encroached into their space and constricted them to a point where now they flow with humongous velocity and increased mass. We build temporary or permanent structures next to nullahs or rivulets, thinking that they will never overflow, we tend to overlook huge boulders in them, thinking what has happened in past will not happen in our lifetime. This destructive force is now putting question mark in everybody’s mind.

Few days back my cousin who lives at Karanprayag at Chamoli district visited us. I had enquired from him for visiting my village, and beyond to Badrinath and The Valley of Flower. But his plain and simple request was to avoid visiting these places during monsoons, you never knew when what happens.

“You never knew when what happens” stuck me. Here we have a person who works and lives in Hills and is giving this statement. The enormity of the statement stuck me. Travelling on highway, whether in your own vehicle, shared cab or a bus or even in not-so-distant future in train and thereafter in a vehicle and been forced to halt at a place for night or stuck up on roads for hours because of some modality or situation is the peculiarity of the Hills and it is become severe by the day. This gets multiplied a number of times for tourist/pilgrims visiting these places.

I am not just mentioning about a part of Himalayas ie Garhwal but this is the case with people visiting Arunachal Pradesh, Leh/Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim etc. I am sure this is the situation in any part of India or any part of the world. We at individual level are vulnerable. What’s our dependency or source of information – Weather Application, Government Advisory or God forbids if something untoward happens vague information at road block or been halted in the route by guardians of law and been told you cannot move ahead. In era of technology uncertainty in all this aspect put a big question mark.

A series of events comes to my mind. Sela Pass is a beautiful opening in the Himalayan Massif which is the gateway to the Town of Tawang in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh. This pass at over 14000 Feet sees hues of weather from massive blizzard in the winters with frozen Sela Lake to awe inspiring blue water of lake and clear azure blue sky during summers. Throughout the year tourists in drove cross through this place and make it a point to stay and enjoy their time at Sela Pass. I am sure tourists still visit this mountain pass even though a massive tunnel has been drilled across Himalayas which bypass this Mountain Pass. Every year like a routine there are massive snow blizzards in winter and every year 100-200 tourists have to be rescued. During winters of 2018 we rescued a big gang of Bikers who were caught unaware. Prime reason – Situational Unawareness, when beautiful snowflakes turn to massive blizzard no one can hazard a guess. There are weather advisory in place; but tourist moving on the highway have limited access to details, data and alerts to forewarn them – Lack of Situational Awareness. Once caught in midst, all the Hell Breaks loose. It is upto First responders in term of Army Teams or for other cases NDRF or Local Police or Good Samaritan who saves the day and saves life. But situation is quite chaotic, as we humans still cannot measure against Nature and its forces. Surprise is this phenomena was not limited to the year 2018, it has happened in past with regularity and I had seen this happening in 2019, 2020. Similar situation, light snowfall, people enjoying at Sela Pass, sudden change of weather and in no time heavy blizzard and people again getting caught in these kind of situation.

Now coming to the hills of Garhwal in Uttarakhand and specially for the tourists and pilgrims moving to the Holy town of Badrinath in distant Chamoli in Uttarakhand. Nearly 15 Lakh tourist travel towards hills from May till late October this includes residents and those who have villages in hills travelling during this period. The journey starts from Plains ie Rishikesh meanders all along river Ganga through town of Devprayag and along mighty river Alaknanda throughs towns and hubs of Srinagar, Rudraprayag, Karanprayag, Nandprayag, Joshimath, Vishnuprayag, Govindghat and Badrinathji. Till Rudraprayag route is common for the Temple of Kedarnathji and till Govindghat route is common for Valley of Flowers and Hemkund Saheb. Number of pilgrims travelling on the Hills during the season is approximately 50 Lakh plus.

What are the Risks Enroute – Weather specially during Monsoon and pre monsoon (Late June till September), disruption enroutes ie landslide, massive traffic jams, road density of vehicles, crossing over densely populated town centers(Choke Points), falling sick due to mountain and road sickness. Inadequate and hygienic restrooms and specially for women and children is also a major point of concern. Things are smooth till the time people do not get caught up or stuck at some place due to weather or a man induced vagary.

Rather than depending on prayers, and been at mercy of weather; I strongly feel tourist and pilgrims should have situational awareness, which can help them navigate with finesses any impediments which can cause men and material harm. This will strengthen thinned out Government machinery with meagre resources to cater for response, as where what will happen cannot be predicted with accuracy.

How – I had mentioned in my previous article about utilization of existing and developing technology to make people situational aware. It can be localized weather pattern, what to expect in next 10 miles or maybe a hour head, any threats in form of weather phenomena or massive choke point been developed on road or overflow of the road density etc. This can also include eateries, hotels, lodges, Fuel Point, parking areas, emergency shelters, hospitals, medical responders, vehicle repairers, voluntary Organisations, forces (Police, Military etc in the route). All this situational awareness can be bundled in an App which can be utilized in existing platform of Smartphone (Which majority of population now possesses).

Cost Effectiveness – Application development, updation, upgradation, back and front end support along with marketing and sales are drain on resources. Also, effort or platforms needs to be created wherein local stakeholder like Restaurants, Lodges, Hotels, Petrol Bunk etc keep updating their state and cost of food and accommodation etc. It may sound very complicated, so was the case when e-payment or using apps to pay was introduced; but now we are so comfortable that majority of us do not carry liquid cash with us. Insurance is also a major thing which should come into fore wherein apart from Governments contribution, Insurance as a tool should be utilized for compensation for any accident, incident or medical treatment and loss of life or limb. So this application can be monetized partly by government, by user, by Hotel, restaurant, Lodge owners, by Insurance agencies etc. Just think you are travelling in Hills or any places in rest of the country which sees heavy footfall of tourists/pilgrims and where forces of nature play a very decisive role and with touch of your smartphone details which can help you take decision by been situationally aware is made available, albeit with some cost. A small premium or an amount when we are spending so much in travel is hardly any expenditure.

How It Helps Risk and Disaster Management Plan – Risk management is actually pre-event ie before anything happens, herein we wargame as to what can happen and accordingly, we can plan. Disaster Management is when something has happened or an event is on. I have just shared about an app which can help a pilgrim/tourist at individual level etc to plan, to cater for emergency and be prepared for any catastrophic event, a forewarning; because when the event happens and before any help arrives Tourist/Pilgrims/Event Organizers/Villagers are the first responder. At the level of Administration or Event organizer we can embed technology with local inputs, past happenings and maybe for some event which sees huge crowd or some seasonal activities maybe sensors can be placed at locations where these catastrophic events can happen, a mapping sort of can help management of events or any situation which requires them to mobilise resources.

Concern for Garhwal Himalayas – Year 2026 – Year 2026 will be seeing regular inflow of tourist/pilgrims to the holy temple town of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Hemkund Sahib, Valley of Flower, Auli; residents travelling to their villages and once in a 12 years Mega Yatra known as Maa Nanda Devi Raj Jaat Yatra. Nanda Devi is guardian of Garhwal and Kumaon, massive Nanda Devi peak located in a biosphere are a sight to see. This yatra will start from village Nauti near Town of Karanprayag and people will walk all the way upto Homkund . It will also pass through famous Roopkund, which has secrets which are yet to be unveiled. Yatra will be a 280 to 290 Kms, 19-22 days scenic trek and will ascend till over 18000 feet near Homkund and Roopkund. The yatra will be in the months of August – Septemeber. It passes through dense forest, steep slopes, rocky and icy paths and crossing rivers and streams. In 2014, 50000 devotees were present at inauguration at Nauti Village. 20000 pilgrims travelled all the way to final destination ie Homkund. But Lakhs and Lakhs of devotees had joined and were the part of festivities at halts at villages enroute. Known as Mahakumbh of Garhwal, this year I am sure a million or more devotees /pilgrims will be part of this yatra, even I have made my mind to be part of this yatra of my dreams. This complete area has all the risks which we can think of, I am sure Government of Uttarakhand is leaving no stones unturned to make this yatra a grand success and safe for people. But we need to imbed technology with resources and everyone needs to be a stakeholder. I am very sure firms which are into domain of insurance, forecasting and risk analysis firms, clothing/accessories/ mountain gear firms would like to partner in this journey of dreams apart from National and state level agencies.

Update Before Conclusion – While I was writing this article fresh with memories of disaster at Harshil which has nearly wiped out an important route to Gangotri Dham and an artificial lake created due to mud, trees, rocks and sediment, which is giving sleepless night to populace in the vicinity of river Bhagirathi; there has been incessant rains in the Himalayas specially in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Since last two weeks Dehradun, which is the capital is having holidays for School going children due to heavy rains, IT Park which is a prominent place in the map of Dehradun had rivulets flowing on top of Roads; Yatra route to nearly all shrines is closed, due to incessant rains, landslides, mudslides. 1000s of tourist are stranded, people have been requested to avoid travelling to Hills. Even I had planned to visit Chamoli Garhwal, Badrinath, route of Nandadevi Rajraath to meet farmers, find out about Organic Fruits, Vegetables, Visit a Trout Farm, a Mini industrial area near Karanprayag, but all these plans have been put to hold.

All over the Himalayas weather and nature is wrecking havoc. Five days back again a terrible news came from Kishtwar wherein sudden flashfloods disrupted the roadhead at Chastoli Village for Machail Mata Pilgrame route and alongwith parked vehicle, Langars where food was been prepared a big part of village has been wiped off the map. As of now 60 people are dead, 100s are injured and 500 maybe 1000 people are feared trapped. The CM of J&K has stated that “ We already knew about weather (Forecast). Could we have more steps from the government and administration to save these precious lives”. So are we helpless before nature ? As seen from the videos there was very heavy flow of water, stones, gravel, this mass took away everything which came in it’s path. Could tourists/event organizer have taken some proactive steps, not creating parking in base or vicinity of a stream, some siren or early warning system in Nullahs or higher reaches where weather anomaly could have been detected and people/organizers sounded. These are some of the questions which need to be answered. Can we integrate technology, Stakeholders to include tourist/pilgrims for a proactive Risk and Disaster Management Strategy ? And before I was concluding this article another massive flashflood in the Ghati area at Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir.

Caselet Travel to Badrinath – In case of tourists/pilgrims/villagers/general public/administration are made stakeholders for risk and disaster management strategy in the area of interest , in this specific case like Travelling to temple town of Badrinath, we may have situations but than we can limit loss of life and limb. In this specific case people will plan their travel, know what is happening enroute, know about anomalies in weather or any event, will know where to halt, whom to approach for rescue or help. Authorities will be able to map where they have to be more careful about. Like in route to Badrinath there are traditional sites with history wherein natural disaster has happened like Birahi, Teen Dhara Area, Kaliasaur, Near Nandprayag etc and some Nullahs which have overflown in the past with destructive rage. Glaciers and Glacial Lakes can be monitored. Today an article had come in local newspaper regarding a very famous place known as Teena Dhara before Devprayag, how it faces existential threat and how it is a disaster waiting for tourist, shopkeepers and other people. Rudraprayag is an important town enroute, now the bypass to this town is sinking, there has been constant news about Karanprayag and Joshimath. So we need a proactive risk management strategy to map all these areas and plan for relocation, resiting, putting in early warning mechanism; a transfusion of technology and pooling in of resources. Also, a Disaster Management strategy tailormade for the areas or season, so that resources which are very precious and always in shortage can be placed within easy reach, Like in Case of Golden Hour for Triage; earliest deployment of these resources can prevent chaos and save lives.

Conclusion – All these steps maybe be useless or will give no results as nothing will happen for some years, some decades, they may drain resources, these will have some cost, people, business, governments etc will have to invest; but these are like Insurance plans, when the right time comes, I am sure they will provide a protective shield, give adequate warning, help plan construction of houses, restaurant, shops in safe zone and existing infrastructure if placed or constructed in so called danger or questionable zone can be gradually shifted to safe areas. Need of the hour is an amalgamation of technology with resources, participation of Government and Private Sector and move before it is too late. We need investments, we need technology, we need resources, we need entrepreneurs, and lastly participation of stakeholders.