Context:
Houses and roads collapsed amid heavy rains in the Helang area of Joshimath.
About Joshimath:
- Location – Uttarakhand
- Declared as a landslide and subsidence-hit zone.
- Falls in Zone V of the Seismic Zonation Map
Land subsidence refers to the gradual sinking of the ground surface while Landslides are sudden and rapid movements of soil and rock downhill.
Reasons that make Joshimath easily prone to sinking –
- Situated in middle slopes of a hill.
- Flow of perennial streams – Karmanasa, Dhaknala, Dhauliganga and Alaknanda
- Highly weathered rocks with low cohesive characteristics.
- Tectonic activity due presence of fault line – Vaikrita Thurst, Main Central Thrust and Pandukeshwar Thrust.
- Mahesh Chandra Mishra committee (1976) commented that Joshimath is situated on an old landslide zone and doesn’t have high load-bearing capacity.
- Unplanned construction and improper water drainage
Importance of Joshimath –
- Gateway to famous pilgrimages: Badrinath, Hemkund Sahib
- International tourist destinations: Auli (Skiing), Valley of Flowers
- One of the 4 cardinal monasteries established by Adi Shankara (Others: Sringeri, Dwarka, Puri)
- Strategically important to Indian Army
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Consider the following pairs:
Famous Place: Region
- Bodhagaya: Baghelkhand
- Khajuraho: Bundelkhand
- Shirdi: Vidarbha
- Nasik (Nashik): Malwa
- Tirupati: Rayalaseema
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2016 Prelims]
(a) 1, 2 and 4
(b) 2, 3, 4 and 5
(c) 2 and 5 only
(d) 1, 3, 4 and 5
