Entire Joshimath may sink, ISRO report shows

Frightening findings from a preliminary report show that the entire Joshimath town may sink, while Army's helipad and the Narasimha temple are sensitive zones.

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) released satellite images of Joshimath and the preliminary report on land subsidence showed that the entire town may sink, IANS reported.

Hyderabad-based NRSC has released the satellite images of areas that are sinking. The pictures are taken from the Cartosat-2S satellite.


In images, the entire town, including the Army's helipad and the Narasimha temple, has been marked as sensitive zone.

Uttarakhand government is conducting rescue operation in danger-prone areas on the basis of ISRO's preliminary report. The government is shifting the people in these areas to safer places on priority.

According to the report, the land subsidence was slow between April and November 2022, during which Joshimath had sunk by 8.9 cm. But between December 27, 2022 and January 8, 2023, the intensity of land subsidence increased and the town sank by 5.4 cm in these 12 days.

The satellite images show that the Joshimath-Auli road is also going to collapse due to the land subsidence.

Although scientists are still studying the cracks that appeared in the houses and roads after the land subsidence in the town, the findings in the primary report of ISRO are frightening.


(with IANS inputs)