NDMA directs MeT department to chalk-out action plan for spot on weather forecast at pilgrimages

Delhi: The National Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday directed the India Meteorological Department to make weather monitoring and forecasting for the Char Dham pilgrimage more accurate so that disasters like Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath don’t occur in future, or preventive measures be taken to save pilgrims from the natural calamity.

According to reports, the NDMA has directed the MeT to draw up a time bound plan to increase the efficiency of the weather forecast. The department has been directed to take a cue from weather management in the Amarnath Yatra in IMD issues short-term forecasts every day in the morning for various locations on the two routes to the cave.

At least 102 have been confirmed dead in Uttarakhand while the total death toll has reached to 131. Over 72,000 are still stranded across Uttarakhand with the holy town of Kedarnath being the worst hit. Apart from 102 people dead in Uttarakhand, 29 deaths were reported from neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.

Landslides left scores of tourists and pilgrims stranded in the hill states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh while thousands have been displaced in Uttar Pradesh where several rivers are in spate.
 

The state has received 313 mm rainfall so far which is a phenomenal 375 per cent above the normal benchmark of 65.9 mm rainfall that state receives during a normal monsoon. Rudraprayag bore the brunt of the disaster with a large number of structures including shrines, hotels, rest houses, commercial and residential buildings collapsing like a pack of cards in the district.