Sinking and sleeping of Himalayan city Joshimath

Abstract

Most of the Greater Himalayan cities recurrently face multiple natural hazards or disasters such as earthquake, landslide, sinking, glacier busts and flash flood. So, Joshimath is no exception because it is situated on tectonically very active young fold Himalayan mountain chain. Previously, many incidents like landslides, subsidence or sinking and flash flood occurred in and around Joshimath city and multiple major and minor cracks also exposed on roads, walls and floors of houses. From 11 January 2023, major portion of Joshimath city is continuously started to sink and major and minor cracks have been developed on roads, floors, ceilings and walls of houses. Around 1000 people have been evacuated from the unsafe area and risky buildings. Here, schmidt hammer rebound test for rock strength, deep learning technique (landslide susceptibility) and geo-hydrological techniques have been applied. This geospatial with field based study investigated the reasons behind the recent big disaster and this research finding will definitely assist to policy makers for sustainable planning and management.