The frightening debris-laden flash flood disaster at Dharali town along Kheer Gad-Bhagirathi river just 20 km downstream of Gangotri at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday, Aug 5 has demolished over 40 buildings, with scores (68 as on Aug 13 as per the Dehradun-based State Emergency Operation Centre) of people, including nine army jawans, reported missing (the numbers could go up as per several geologists) and at least five dead. The ground zero is still largely inaccessible four days after the disaster. While the full details of what caused the disaster are still a bit uncertain, what is clear is that the warning signs were present, they were ignored and a number of human causes amplified the proportions of the disaster. The scene of the disaster was similar to what we saw in Chamoli in Feb 2021 when ice and debris laden stream destroyed two hydropower projects killed over a hundred people.

As geologists said, the disaster was waiting to happen, but our governance did not seem to know.