The Himalayan Peril

Uttarakhand

The devastating avalanche which struck the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp at Mana-Badrinath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, killing at least eight people and triggering a desperate 60-hour rescue operation in the face of brutal weather, was a stark reminder of the Himalayan state’s precarious balance between development and nature’s relentless forces. While authorities were able to rescue 46 workers, the tragedy raises serious questions yet again about Uttarakhand’s vulnerability to recurring natural calamities and the state’s readiness to face them.

Mana, the last Indian village before the Tibet border, sits at a precarious altitude of 3,200 meters. The treacherous Himalayan terrain, combined with unpredictable snowfall and human encroachments, makes it a disaster waiting to happen. The avalanche that buried the BRO camp in thick snow is only the latest in a series of calamities that have battered the region over the years.

The state’s geology, marked by young, unstable mountains, is particularly prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods. Some of India’s deadliest disasters have unfolded in this very region. The 1991 Uttarkashi earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, claimed nearly 800 lives and left thousands homeless. Seven years later, in 1998, the Malpa landslide wiped out an entire village, killing 255 people, including 55 pilgrims en route to Kailash Mansarovar. In 1999, Chamoli itself was rocked by another 6.8-magnitude earthquake, causing extensive destruction.

Then came the horror of June 2013. A multi-day cloudburst triggered devastating floods and landslides, leading to what has been called the ‘Himalayan tsunami.’ More than 5,700 people were presumed dead, and over 300,000 were stranded as entire towns were washed away. Bridges collapsed, roads disintegrated, and the sacred pilgrimage town of Kedarnath bore the full force of nature’s wrath. The 2021 Rishiganga flood, which was triggered by an ice and rock avalanche from Ronti Peak, echoed the same pattern.

More recently, in 2022, an avalanche at Draupadi Ka Danda peak killed 27 mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. And now, the 2025 Mana-Badrinath avalanche has reinforced Uttarakhand’s unyielding reputation as a high-risk region for disasters.

Why is Uttarakhand so vulnerable? The answer lies in its geology and climate. The Himalayas are among the youngest mountain ranges in the world, still rising as the Indian tectonic plate collides with the Eurasian plate. This geological youth makes them inherently unstable. The upper layers of these mountains consist mostly of loose soil, prone to erosion and landslides, especially during heavy rainfall. Furthermore, earthquakes are a constant threat, with the entire region falling under Seismic Zones IV and V (the highest categories of earthquake vulnerability in India).

Rising temperatures are accelerating glacial melt, increasing the frequency of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Heavier monsoons, unpredictable snowfall and shifting weather patterns are further destabilizing an already delicate ecosystem. In Joshimath, a town that acts as a gateway to several Himalayan pilgrimage sites, scientists have recorded land subsidence at an alarming rate of 6.5 cm per year between 2020 and 2022.

Despite these warning signs, large-scale construction continues unchecked in Uttarakhand. Roads, dams and tunnels are being carved into the fragile mountains without adequate geological assessments. The Char Dham highway project, aimed at improving connectivity to the region’s four major pilgrimage sites, has been criticized for its reckless expansion. The construction of massive hydroelectric projects, such as the Tehri Dam, has altered river courses and disrupted local ecosystems, further aggravating the disaster risk.

The Uttarakhand government must rethink its approach to development. Disaster preparedness should take precedence over blind expansion. Climate change adaptation strategies must become central to policy planning. Reforestation, sustainable tourism and restrictions on large-scale infrastructure projects in sensitive areas could help reduce the frequency of disasters. More importantly, local communities need to be equipped with the knowledge and resources to respond effectively to natural calamities.

The avalanche at Mana-Badrinath will not be Uttarakhand’s last disaster. Unless urgent measures are taken, history will continue to repeat itself.