'India has gone digital. They talk about the success of India's Chandrayaan mission but they cannot evacuate our people trapped for around a week'
Inching closer to their goal, rescuers have inserted wide pipes up to 45 metres through the rubble and will have to drill another around 12 metres to reach the 41 workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel in Silkyara for 10 days, officials said Wednesday afternoon.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday expressed concern over China's proposed mega hydropower project on the upstream of Siang River in Tibet, stating it will have a cascading effect on India and Bangladesh in the near future.
More than 11,000 personnel of various agencies including Gujarat Police, NSG, RAF, and home guards among others will be deployed in Ahmedabad and at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad during the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket match on October 14, a senior officer said on Monday.
Here is the timeline of the disaster and the rescue efforts that followed.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated drastically on Thursday with one person losing his life and nearly five lakh people reeling under the deluge across 12 districts, an official bulletin said.
The Punjab government has ordered the closure of schools till July 13 while in Chandigarh schools are closed till Thursday.
The resumption of drilling with the auger machine is likely to speed up the rescue efforts.
The CRS has recommended that a drive should be launched to update the completion signalling wiring diagrams, other documents and lettering of signaling circuits at site.
All efforts should be on relief, restoration and rehabilitation, Nadda told reporters in Shimla after visiting the rain-affected areas of Poanta in Sirmaur and Shimla town.
Relief Commissioner Alok Pandey told reporters that the government is constantly working to ensure that there is no loss of life due to the weather phenomenon.
Apart from 15 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 12 teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), personnel of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and Border Security Force (BSF) are deployed for relief and rescue operations, officials said.
'They had been locked up for 17 days and the door was opened and they're like, 'We're not going on one of these stretcher things. We're out of here'!' 'Then someone says, 'They're all out!' 'They are all safe?' 'Yes, they're all safe'.' 'I am like aaaaahhh. I cried happy tears.'
On day three after a flash flood wreaked havoc in Sikkim's Teesta basin, the number of bodies recovered from the river and mud embankments downstream rose to 22, including seven army men.
According to officials, the Ganga was flowing at 463.20 metres following which water filled up in Sangam Ghat, Ramkund, Dhaneshwar Ghat and Fuladi Ghat. There was also a tremendous jump in the water level of the Ganga after 2,000-3,000 cusecs of water was released from the dam of the GVK hydroelectric project built on the Alaknanda river.
With different agencies showing divergent predictions regarding the southwest monsoon, the central government and states are gearing up to face adversity with various line ministries reportedly being directed to undertake mock drills and hold preparatory meetings. Around 56 per cent of the net cultivable area of the country is rain-fed, accounting for 44 per cent of foodgrain production. The June-September rains contribute around 73 per cent of the annual precipitation.
While two lives were "tragically" lost before the landfall of the cyclone, not a single human life was lost post the landfall in Gujarat.
States have been told to prepare in advance to counter any impact of an adverse southwest monsoon.
Twenty-seven mountaineers remained missing on Wednesday after rescue workers brought 14 injured members of their team to safety, a day after an avalanche claimed 10 lives in Uttarkashi.
The Sikkim Government has confirmed that 14 people have died so far in the flash floods that occurred in Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday.
The body of a junior commissioned officer was retrieved from a stream in the Poshana area of Surankote late Saturday evening, while the body of a second soldier was found this morning as the water level started receding in the district.
Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday demanded that the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in the state prove with evidence that there was 40 per cent commission during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party rule.
'If you are constructing the tunnel in the Himalayan region, then if you have constructed 10 metres of tunnel, first you will have to do proper treatment and ensure the stability of this constructed structure.' 'You cannot just throw concrete on the ceiling and sidewall of the tunnel for permanent stability. That will not work.'
Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near Jakhau Port in Gujarat on Thursday evening with a wind speed of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph as heavy rains lashed the coastal region, where several areas plunged into darkness due to power cuts and a large number of trees, electric poles and hoardings got uprooted.
As the rains continue unabated in Assam, the authorities have warned the situation could worsen in the coming days.
Alluri Sitarama Raju district, which is yet to fully recover from last month's deluge, is once again in the grip of a massive flood threat as discharge in the river crossed 10 lakh cusecs (cubic foot of water flow per second) mark.
Nineteen people have been killed in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours, the state relief commissioner's office said Monday evening.
'I would put my hand in the ground and have a little listen to what the mountain was doing.' 'Actually, it was still collapsing.' 'And there was a very real possibility that at some stage, without warning, the collapse could continue -- and continue across us, the people who were doing the rescue and also across to the men on the other side, who were being rescued.'
General Pande said, "25-28 buildings (of the Army) have developed minor cracks and the soldiers have been temporarily relocated. If needed they will be permanently relocated to Auli."
The move came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told chief ministers of the seven worst affected states on Wednesday that his government has increased the states' limit to spend the SDRF to boost infrastructure to fight the pandemic.
Intense monsoon rains brought normal life to a standstill in several parts of eastern and central Rajasthan, flooding out roads, rail tracks, low-lying residential areas and hospitals and claiming seven lives since Sunday night.
The helicopter came to pieces as it crashed and went up in flames.
'I decided to send a bat and a ball which was smaller in size so that it shouldn't get stuck in the pipe. And with that, they had a little good time.'
This comes as Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by lawyer-cum-petitioner, Gaurav Kumar Bansal, seeking an ex gratia compensation for those family members, who died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many people are feared trapped following two landslides at Shiv temple in the Summer Hill area and the Fagli area of Shimla city.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
A cloudburst occurred near the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas on Wednesday, but there was no loss of life in the incident, officials said.
All State Disaster Management Acts have been formed as part of the central disaster management law; hence the state needs the Union government's permission to use the SDRF for helping the pandemic-hit people, a government official said on Thursday.
With the flood situation in Assam remaining critical on Monday and affecting a population of nearly 43 lakh in 33 of its 35 districts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed air dropping of food and other relief materials in areas where there is heavy inundation, officials said.
Near the temple, a group of locals shouted 'Murdabad' slogans in protest when Chouhan was on way to console the victims' families.
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