Uttarakhand disaster: Glacier fracture triggered tragedy, shows initial studies

New Delhi: While scientists landed on Monday near the Uttarakhand glacier disaster site for a detailed field investigation, the first satellite imagery assessments and aerial surveys point to a glacial fracture having triggered the chain of events.

“The DRDO team is analysing all available data but an initial aerial survey indicates that a hanging glacier broke away from the main glacier triggering, the tragedy. The initial assessment is that the breakaway glacier formed a lake in the narrow valley after falling. This later burst causing the damage,” Dr LK Sinha, director of DRDO’s Defence Geo Informatics Research Establishment, told ET. “Our team is currently based in Dehradun and is analysing all data. It will return for an aerial survey on Tuesday if the need is felt,” Sinha added.

Other expert teams are set to begin on-ground assessments for the examination of the debris left behind to find out more on the causes and chain of events.


“Before we access the exact source and site that led to this situation, we will be investigating the nature of the debris and sediment left behind to understand the causality. Whether it is fresh plants, development muck or glacial debris …it will tell us a lot about the situation and the possible chain of events that led to the disaster,” said Vinit Kumar, scientist from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, who is part of the visiting team of experts at the site.

HC Nainwal, glaciologist at the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Uttarakhand, agreed that the possibility of an avalanche triggering the chain of events does seem likely given the fresh snowfall in the area between February 1-5.

JC Kuniyal of the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development maintained that it is too premature to surmise on the cause of the glacier disaster and said more scientific data was required to get the full picture.

Meanwhile, a landslide tracking blog by Dave Petley, Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield in UK, cited images from open source global satellite imagery platform Planet Labs to assess that a landslide had caused the disaster.