"It's a man made disaster or nature made? -

"It's  a man made disaster or nature made? - lot of uncomfortable visuals in media, many questions but do we have the answer? sure many explanations . I am not a environment expert but have little to say. I happened to be in UT just a day before this catastrophe happened and should thank lord from providing me a little sense to come back and not continuing with the original plan otherwise, I might have been also languishing in some lap of God waiting for the Demi earth gods to come and rescue. Now,when I seat and imagine what I saw in mad tourist rush, there is little doubt the present Himalayan disaster is man-made. The Himalayan watersheds have witnessed unprecedented deforestation for long and forest areas have been diverted for a host of activities including agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructure projects such as hydropower. Curiously, I found out from some internet sources is that the total forest cover in the Indian Himalayas will be reduced by 32% (of the value in 1970) by 2100. This was quite visible everywhere. Forest were being cut to make double lane highways, uncluttered hotels, restaurants and everything else which is just to destroy the calamity. Even the most basic class room teaches that forest slow down the speed of rain and prevent soil erosion - the precursors of landslides and floods. Besides, vegetation by evapotranspiration stops nearly 30-40% of rainwater from falling to the ground, thereby significantly reducing run-off. Writing was on wall everywhere, but aren't we all avoiding these just thinking I am not going to be the one gone be effected. Himalayan ecosystems had been throwing warnings in past few years, we can expect faster melting of glaciers; frequency of floods in Himalayan rivers will only increase in the coming years. I could see big billboards everywhere : "plots available, you can have holiday homes " . Aren't we playing with nature? Expanding human settlements and urbanization are vulnerable to extreme hydrological events in the Himalayan watersheds. We cannot stop tourism as source of income for locals and joy for outsiders, but aren't some one should think on how to control this uncontrolled human influx in the name of rising religious pilgrimages, consumerism, bigger spending power of the general masses. The mountains which were the source of spiritual carnation have transgressed into massive congregation of neo rich and unmindful individuals. While one cannot undermine aspirations of the local people and their economic activities, lack of enforcement of land use control laws on the part of local governments and officials cannot be wished away. Use of reinforced cement concrete and replacing traditional wood-stone masonry in the Himalayan highlands are likely to induce the heat and will definitely has impact on regional temperature. where is the balance between growth and peace? add to it is mad rush for hydropower. One doesn't need to be a civil engineer to predict the result of making 70 dams in this region. These are easily the potential sources of land degradation, slope weakening and destabilization. Most downstream damage in floodplains is caused by dams and barrages, which release large volumes of water. Huge people influx has necessitated construction of new roads and their widening, a direct reason for landslides. While I drove down the mountain, everywhere one can see cheap accommodation have mushroomed alongside river banks where Neither laws of construction science nor civil regulations have been followed. The result is the washing away of such buildings. Who is going to control it? if we not , such things will continue and days are not far off when even much bigger disasters will follow. We must comprehend the limits of the carrying capacity of Himalayan ecosystems. Controls and law enforcement across the board are a must. Can this be left to the political will? No, this is hardly there in this country. Geology and ecology is alien word for them. the locals, NGOs, self help group needs to come up. we need to get over the greed and bring some sense in the madness. I saw a news being flashed,where a big political lady explaining the reasons for this disaster - "because Devi temple was moved to create space for a dam, Lord shiva got angry and has let this turmoil to happen." Well, those with religious bend might agree in unison, but can that be cause? It's a man made disaster , nature has only reacted. High time we all should stand together to save our spiritual land. Economics doesn't augers well for the humankind especially in these areas. ....... Prakash"