Joshimath sinking by 2.5 inch every year, reveals study

Satellite images from July 2020 to March 2022 show the entire area is slowly sinking.

New Delhi, Jan 11: Over the last 18 months, the hill town of Joshimath and its surrounding areas has been sinking at a very high rate of 6.5 cm or 2.5 inches every year, a new study has revealed.

Satellite images collected from July 2020 to March 2022 show the entire area is slowly sinking.

"Joshimath is sinking at a rate of 6-6.5 cm per year as per the satellite images. The reason could be manifold. We have been looking at the satellite data since 2015, but the analysis would take some time," a scientist at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun was quoted saying in a report.

While breaching of an underground water source appears to be the immediate trigger behind such deep cracks, they told.

Joshimath, the temple-town known to be 'sinking' for a while, more than 200 houses declared unsafe for living.

The number of subsidence-affected homes rose to 678 while 27 more families were evacuated to safety, a bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority in Chamoli said, adding so far 82 families have been shifted to safe locations in the town.

Many families in the affected area are finding it hard to sever their emotional ties with their homes and move out.

Even those who have shifted to temporary shelters keep returning to their abandoned houses in the danger zone, unable to overcome the pull of home.

Satellite images collected for eighteen months that is from July 2020 to March 2022 show the entire area is slowly sinking. The red dots mark the sinking parts. They are spread across the valley and not limited to the Joshimath town, data shows.

Joshimath is a town in the Garwhal Himalayas and is an altitude of 1890 meters. It is also an important way station on both the pilgrimage and trekking circuits. This town however is on a fragile mountain sloped houses 20,000 people. Moreover the problem has become immense due to unplanned and indiscriminate development.