7 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Indian authorities have ordered the immediate evacuation of much of the Himalayan town of Joshimath after the collapse of a temple and several houses revealed the town was sinking into the earth.
“Saving lives is our immediate priority. The security forces are already collaborating to displace the families residing in these homes in danger,” said the chief minister of the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, at a press conference collected by NDTV.
The collapse of the temple on Friday revealed that hundreds of houses in the town had serious cracks that could be the prelude to a real catastrophe, especially in the Marwari neighborhood, where an aquifer has burst outwards and is making evacuation tasks difficult. .
Experts believe that the deterioration is due to several factors, both human and environmental, which have dented the buildings over a long time, according to geologist Kalachand Sain.
Josimath, home to some 15,000 people, is considered a gateway to icons of Hindu and Sikh religious tourism such as Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, and is home to one of the largest Indian military bases on the Chinese border.
