INDIA: India's Interior Minister says that bad weather has stalled evacuation and rescue operations in the flood-hit northern hill state of Uttarakhand.
Record ID:
1375109
INDIA: India's Interior Minister says that bad weather has stalled evacuation and rescue operations in the flood-hit northern hill state of Uttarakhand.
- Title: INDIA: India's Interior Minister says that bad weather has stalled evacuation and rescue operations in the flood-hit northern hill state of Uttarakhand.
- Date: 25th June 2013
- Summary: PATNA, BIHAR, INDIA (JUNE 25, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) INDIA'S INTERIOR MINISTER, SUSHILKUMAR SHINDE, ARRIVING AT AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) INDIA'S INTERIOR MINISTER, SUSHILKUMAR SHINDE, SAYING: "It is still raining in Uttarakhand and it is difficult for the helicopters to fly in those regions. In Badrinath, we have gathered everyone in a safety camp, where food and drinking water is available. Almost all the people stranded in the Kedarnath valley have been rescued; the situation is not so grim there now." DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA (JUNE 25, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) VARIOUS OF HELICOPTERS PARKED AT AN AIRPORT DURING RAIN MOUNTAINS BEHIND AIRPORT / HELICOPTERS AT AIRPORT NEW DELHI, INDIA (JUNE 25, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI - NO ACCESS BBC) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR GENERAL, INDO-TIBETAN BORDER POLICE, AJAY CHADHA, SAYING: "Only about 60 people are to be evacuated from Kedarnath, they are mostly sadhus (priests) or porters. Once the weather improves, we will able to get them out and Badrinath; also we are not taking out people because the weather is not conducive. We do not want people to slip or get injured in the evacuation process. Once the weather stabilizes we will move them by road also, as well as by sorties also." LAMBAGAD, UTTARAKHAND, INDIA (JUNE 24, 2013) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC) RIVER WATER GUSHING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN VARIOUS OF SECURITY PERSONNEL TRYING TO BUILD BRIDGE WITH ROPE AND LOGS OF WOOD OVER THE GUSHING WATER VARIOUS OF STRANDED PILGRIMS STANDING WITH SECURITY PERSONNEL
- Embargoed: 10th July 2013 23:45
- Keywords:
- Location: India
- Country: India
- Topics: Disasters,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5ITIQV3UFQ7F9F3P35DD62BBQ
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: India's Interior Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Tuesday (June 25) that evacuation and rescue operations in the flood-hit northern hill state of Uttarakhand had been stalled due to bad weather and continuous rain.
Flash floods and landslides unleashed by early monsoon rains have killed at least 560 people in northern India and left tens of thousands missing, officials said on Saturday (June 22), with the death toll expected to rise significantly.
Houses and small apartment blocks on the banks of the Ganges, India's longest river and sacred to Hindus, have toppled into the rushing, swollen waters and been swept away with cars and trucks.
Shinde said that it was difficult for rescue helicopters to reach Uttarakhand but that most people stranded in the Kedarnath Valley, one of the worst affected areas where thousands of pilgrims had been stranded, had been rescued.
"It is still raining in Uttarakhand and it is difficult for the helicopters to fly in those regions. In Badrinath, we have gathered everyone in a safety camp, where food and drinking water is available. Almost all the people stranded in the Kedarnath valley have been rescued, the situation is not so grim there now," he said.
Kedarnath, the site of a temple to a powerful Hindu deity, is 86 km from the nearest major town, Rudraprayag in Uttarakhand.
The Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Ajay Chadha, said that only 60 people were still stranded in Kedarnath and evacuation work there and in Badrinath can only resume when the weather clears.
"Only about 60 people are to be evacuated from Kedarnath, they are mostly sadhus (priests) or porters. Once the weather improves, we will able to get them out and Badrinath also we are not taking out people because the weather is not conducive. We do not want people to slip or get injured in the evacuation process. Once the weather stabilizes we will move them by road also, as well as by sorties also," he said.
Thousands of military servicemen are involved in the rescue operations, with air force helicopters plucking survivors, many of them Hindu pilgrims and tourists, from the foothills of the Himalayas.
About 33,000 people had been rescued so far this week, the home ministry said on Saturday.
Railways were running special trains from the devastated areas to take people home.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered 200,000 rupees ($3,400) to the family of each of those who lost their lives and 50,000 rupees ($840) to the injured from his national relief fund. He also pledged money to people who have lost their homes.
Singh promised 10 billion rupees ($167 million) in disaster relief to Uttarakhand, home of the gods in Hindu mythology and the hardest-hit state.
The rains have not hit the summer sowing season in northern India so far, as the planting of rice, sugar, cotton and other agricultural produce is not yet in full swing. - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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