Raja Syed Rather
Srinagar, Jan 14: At around 10:20 AM on Thursday, eerie calm prevailed all across amid the snowfall at Sarbal area near the tourist destination of Sonamarg in central Kashmir when Adil Ahmad (Name Changed) an official from Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering was heading towards the site where the work over Zojila tunnel project is going on.
Adil was barely some meters away from the site, when an avalanche hit Sarbal area. He was unaware of the fact some of the labourers have got buried under the avalanche as the work over the much-hyped project was suspended since the first snowfall in Sonamarg.
All the open works have been suspended by the authorities after the fresh snowfall in Sonamarg as a precautionary measure, he said.
Soon after the avalanche hit Sarbal area, the workers were pressed into service to clean the site after 20-30 minutes from the incident, but during the process, blood stains were found by one of the workers, who got frightened and later a massive rescue operation was launched.
“After collecting details, we were informed that two persons are missing, who had just joined on January 09, but had not worked so far. One of the bodies was recovered at around 2:30 PM while the other was recovered at around 5:30,” Adil said.
“Everything was normal, we had taken every precaution and even the work was suspended too, but these two labourers who were killed in the avalanche had gone closer to the site to click pictures. But, unfortunately they lost their lives,” he said.
Sandeep Kumar and Bala Krishna, both residents of Kishtwar district in Jammu province, were killed in the avalanche.
Reacting to the occurrence of avalanches in Kashmir, Prof Shakil Romshoo, an earth scientist, told KNO that “fortunately, we are aware about the avalanche prone areas in the Kashmir valley due to their peculiar topography and high snow precipitation. Some of the areas in the Kashmir valley because of precipitous slopes upon heavy snowfall during winter are prone to avalanches and these areas are historically known to the communities/inhabitants and the government.”
“There are many other mountainous regions in the world, which are also prone to avalanches. Therefore, first and foremost precaution is that the settlements should be avoided in the avalanche vulnerable areas. In fact, the government should not allow settlements in these areas by bringing in a regulation/regulatory framework. In fact, any sort of infrastructure development should be avoided in the vicinity of the places that are prone to avalanches,” he said.
He also said that the reporting of avalanches has definitely increased in the recent years due to the availability of better communication facilities in the far off areas prone to avalanches. “We don’t have any observed data that would indicate that the frequency of avalanches has increased in the Kashmir valley or elsewhere in the Himalayan region,” he said.
“There are many mountainous regions in the world that are vulnerable to avalanches. So, due to the science and technological development, we can predict/forecast avalanches well in advance and provide early warning to the people living in the nearby regions. Avalanche early warning system is an operational technology and needs to be put in place in every vulnerable area of the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh region,” he said.
However, asked about the Sonamarg avalanche, he said that in general, any infrastructure development in the avalanche prone areas needs to be avoided. “However, regarding the tunnel project, one has to be sure about the alignment of the tunnel before one can make any comment,” he added.
