Natural Disaster in Uttarakhand

Due to the Geographical structure of Uttarakhand, different types of natural disasters occur here every year. Most parts of Uttarakhand being mountainous, there are disasters like earthquakes, Landslides, falling of icebergs.

Also due to the fact that most of the area is forested in Uttarakhand, there is loss of life and property due to the disaster of fire in the forests and floods in the rivers due to excessive rains.

Major Natural Disasters in Uttarakhand

Due to the specific geographical structure, the state has to face natural disasters every year, due to which there are losses of public money. Earthquakes, landslides, overflow, cloudbursts, floods, snowfall, and snowfall disasters are the major ones in the state.

Excess Rain

In the rainy season, suddenly there is more rain in a particular area, which is called ‘cloudburst’, due to which a flood-like situation arises and landslides also occur.

The collapse of the Iceberg

In the high altitude areas of Uttarakhand state, where there is more snowfall, there are incidents of glaciers rolling and falling from the mountains in the winter season. Thick layers of snow freeze, causing Uttarakhand to suffer a lot of loss of life and property.

Forest Fires

Forests area for about 45% of the total land area in the state of Uttarakhand, sometimes due to natural or anthropogenic reasons, Uttarakhand also faces the Forest Fires disaster. Due to this fire in the forests, there is a lot of loss of natural resources, as well as pollution is increased to a great extent. In this fire, not only the trees burn, but the wildlife also suffers a lot of damage. In Uttarakhand, lakhs of rupees are lost every year due to forest fires.

Flooding

Despite the abundance of rivers in the state of Uttarakhand, there is not much flooding, because most of the state has a hillside. But due to excess rainfall and cloudburst, flood-like conditions arise in the state, due to which there are incidents like landslides, and dam breakdowns. 

Landslide

Landslides are a geological phenomenon. Ground movements, such as the slipping or falling of stones, rocky soil erosion, etc. are covered under landslides.

Some Major Floods and Landslides in Uttarakhand

Earthquake

India is divided into five Earthquake Zone, out of which 2 earthquake zones fall in Uttarakhand. Dehradun, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar districts fall in sensitive zone 4, while Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Almora, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh, and Champawat fall in susceptible zone 5. Uttarakhand is a highly sensitive region in terms of earthquakes.

Some Major Earthquakes in Uttarakhand