After quake, tourism drops in Sikkim

Gangtok: The massive September 18 earthquake in Sikkim left more than 70 people dead or missing and crippled travel and tourism industry in state.

Following the earthquake disaster, the number of visitors was down significantly from 2010, said the state-affiliated Local Tourism Organisations and Operators.

"Due to the great earthquake last month, people continued to avoid trips to Sikkim in October," the local tour operators said .

"The Relief and Rescue Operations in North Sikkim has not been settled and still undertaken by Army and State Government and its details have been continually reported by the world's media. There are problem of road connectivity to prominent tourism destinations such as Yumthang,Lachen,Lachung, Changu lake and even Nathula.Many Monasteries are also damaged across Sikkim.

"Worries about safety and security, which are essential to travel, still remained large around the world."
The report noted however that group tours to Sikkim had been resumed since October "in a limited manner" due partly to discount sales by travel agencies & Hotels.

Chaotic highrise skyline of Gangtok rings Warning bells

In dapper Dev Anand's 1967 suspense thriller Jewel Thief, the second half of which was shot in the sylvan Sikkim eight years before its integration with India, hardly any highrises blotted the cinemascope experience. Those were the days when spiralling concrete structures were unheard of at hill stations, which were characterised by only wooden/ asbestos roofs and cemented walls.

But the past decade has drastically changed the plot, and concrete buildings shooting up the sky now form the rather chaotic skyline of the erstwhile scenic Gangtok and Darjeeling hills, where structures climbing up seven or eight storeys have become quite the norm. Making the situation more worrisome is the fact that most of this 'development' is illegal.

The residents of Gangtok woke up to the perils of this grave activity after last Sunday's powerful earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, which has so far claimed at least 75 lives and rendered thousands homeless.

According to experts, Sikkim falls under the highly vulnerable Seismic Zone-IV of India's earthquake hazard map and the risk factor for the residents of this "high-damage risk zone" gets doubled with the coming up of illegal highrises constructed with sub-standard material.

Collapse of Dzongu House with another building in Gangtok

The mushrooming of illegal buildings in the Sikkim capital points a finger at the ineptitude of the state government, which has conveniently been ignoring the need for a watchdog to monitor this building boom which doesn't follow even basic guidelines for countering the quake threat.

"We are dealing with the issue of earthquake disaster. We will address the issue of highrises and necessary building norms in Gangtok later," Sikkim chief secretary Karma Gyatso said.

While the occurrence of earthquakes cannot be wished away, the loss of life and the extent of collateral damage can always be mitigated with scientific moves in terms of developing civic infrastructure, the experts maintain. "The entire seismic-active region in Sikkim needs to undergo a thorough survey for it to survive a similar disaster in the future," a Sikkim government official said.

Seismic activity along the Himalayan arc takes place following the thrusting action of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate. As the Indian plate converges with Eurasia at a rate of about 46 mm/ year towards the north- northeast, this has led to the uplift of the mountainous Himalayan range.

More than 80 per cent of all the buildings in Sikkim have developed severe cracks following the quake.

Two highrises have already collapsed in Gangtok amid the heavy rain on Friday, injuring at least four persons.

Reasons to be worried

•Illegal highrises violating earthquake resistance mechanism
•All buildings have come up in close proximity, with hardly any space in between
•Unplanned urban growth
•No monitoring mechanism by authorities

Gurudwara provides community kitchen [Langar] to 3000 Sikkim Earthquake Victims

Chungthang is a town in North Sikkim district in the Indian state of Sikkim. It is situated at the confluence of two rivers: River Lachen and Lachung Chu, both tributaries of the River Teesta. Chungthang is located a distance of 95 kilometres from the capital Gangtok. The Indian army has a major forward base in the town including a medical centre.
There are about 300 people, mostly labourers, at the relief camp opened at the “Gurudwara Nanak Lama Sahib”, Chungthang, campus where a community kitchen [Langar] prepares food for around 3,000 people everyday, inform Kuldeep Singh and Sada Singh from the Kar Seva Bangla Saheb, New Delhi. They had come here in March. The Gurudwara committee members inform that people are coming in there from Lachen, Lachung, Dombang and Thangu.

History

According to a legend, Guru Padmasambhabwa {Buddhist Guru} visited the town before going to Tibet and left his footprint on a rock where he once rested. Around the rock some paddy is grown, which is supposed to be a miracle as paddy does not grow in these conditions. Local people earned their livelihood on these paddy fields until the Army was deployed there.

It is believed Guru Nanak Dev ji visited this place during his trip (Udasi) to China and Tibet. Guru Nanak Dev ji dug his walking stick at a place where eventually the stick has grown into a tree which has trunk in stick shape and leaves are below the rounded trunk which looks like handle of stick. An amrit kund was also made to appear there by Guru ji. Guru Nanak visited the place during his third udasi in order to solace the Karma pa Nying ma pa sect then being hounded out from Tibet by the Ge lug pa sect. It is also said that Guru Nanak, on one of his journeys along with his disciples, had come across this place and vanquished two demons here before proceeding. The footprints of that battle were believed to be still left on that cordoned off rock. It is also said that Chungthang derived from the Punjabi, “Changa sthan” or good place, which Guru Nanak had bestowed on it

Army wants VVIPs kept out of Sikkim till relief and rescue operations

Gangtok: The Army has given an unusual suggestion to the government for improving the relief and rescue operations in earthquake devastated regions of Sikkim - keep VVIPs off the area.

A senior government source said the Army conveyed its suggestion to the defence ministry this weekend, after the Army and IAF were forced to divert significant number helicopters and personnel for visit of various VVIPs. Among those who have already visited the region are Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and home minister P Chidambaram.

The suggestion could put an end to the plans of other Union ministers and senior political leaders to visit Gangtok and other areas of northern Sikkim where the damage has been the worst. The Army on its part is also believed to have decided not to plan a trip by the Army chief or other senior officers to avoid strain on the ongoing rescue operations.

Because of a host of factors, including the remoteness of villages, the rescue and relief operations are heavily dependent on the helicopter fleet of IAF and Army. Between the two forces, there is a fleet of Advance Light Helicopters, Cheetah/Chetak and Mi-17s in the region.

For Chungthang and beyond, the Army maintains ration of 55 days on normal times, as part of its preparedness for the border region. But since the earthquake, this ration is being distributed to local residents. Thus maintaining those ration stocks, reaching aviation fuel, diesel etc to the military formations that are beyond the road cut-off by earthquake are all dependent on helicopters.

An Army official said personnel of 33 Corps has reached almost all villages, but in many villages they found only rubble. It could be due to the residents migrating to nearest road-heads, or other villages, or there could be worse than assessed disaster buried in those villages, he admitted.

Over 90 people have been killed and a few hundred injured in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck on September 18.

Sikkim getting back to normal

Gangtok, Sept. 25: A landslide at 32 Mile on National Highway 31A today cut off Sikkim’s sole road link with the rest of the country for six hours.

The highway, near Singtam in East district, was cleared of debris a little after noon.

“The debris and fallen trees were cleared around 12.30pm. Although we are pressed for resources, which are being utilised to clear the Mangan-Chungthang road in North Sikkim, we managed to pull out a bulldozer and some manpower from there to remove the debris here (at 32 Mile),” said A.K. Das, the joint director of the Border Roads Organisation’s Project Swastik. An occasional boulder and slush are still slipping down the hill slopes at several points along NH31A since the earthquake last Sunday.

In North Sikkim, Chungthang and areas beyond it, continued to receive food rations from the army even as the choppers were pressed for evacuation. Multiple landslides after the earthquake have blocked the highway from Mangan onwards, the district headquarters of North Sikkim.

According to Colonel Ravi Patel, the spokesperson for the 17th Mountain Division, nine army choppers were pressed into service today. They dropped 300kg of food at Chungthang, 400kg at Lachen and 800kg at Lachung. Technicians from the civilian administration were also air dropped to assist in relief operations and revive radio communication.

Four mountaineers brought by the state government were also flown to Chungthang, 100km from Mangan, to help in the search and rescue operations.

Injured persons and those wanting to leave were evacuated from these regions, the army spokesperson said at the media briefing today.

“In addition to this, certain quantity of diesel and kerosene were dropped at Chungthang and Lachung for the civilians and to meet the fuel requirements of the machines used by the BRO for road restoration work there,” said Col Patel.

A total of 3,300kg of food ration were dropped at five villages in Dzongu in North Sikkim. Landslides have made the hamlets inaccessible by road.

Palchen Lachenpa, a resident of Lachen, 28km from Chungthang, who was airlifted to Gangtok today, said: “We want to tell our relatives and our children who are studying outside Sikkim that we are all safe in Lachen though property has been damaged. Around 150 people in Lachen have been staying together at the village monastery. There is no need to worry. The army is providing us with food there.”

The spokesperson for the Sikkim government, K.S. Topgay, said the state was getting back to normal and “the death toll remained 77”.

The joint director of the land revenue department, G.C. Khanal, said a six-member team, consisting among others three geologists from IIT Roorkee, will be flying to Lachen and Lachung soon to study the health of the lakes and structural stability of buildings. They will then submit a report to the state government.

VIDEO: Hydro Power Project Workers Flee North Sikkim After Earthquake

Ringhem Choling Monastery above Mangan

It was a providential escape for the 60-odd monks living in the century-old Ringjhim Buddhist monastery in North Sikkim whose prayer room was reduced to rubble in the temblor that shook Sikkim last Sunday.

The monastery houses five senior monks and 55 students and as it was a Sunday, the monks had finished their prayer session half an hour earlier rather than the usual time of 6 pm on weekdays.

The earthquake struck at 6.10 pm ruining the holy prayer hall in a matter of minutes before the monks could run for shelter. Had the prayer meeting continued till 6 PM as on week days, the monks could have been trapped inside, the Principal of the Institution of Buddhist Learning of the monastery, Acharya Prema Dorjee told PTI.

"On weekdays the routine afternoon prayer session is from 4 pm to 6 pm but as it was Sunday we finished the prayer session at 5.30 pm in the evening and the earthquake hit this part of the region at 6.10 pm," Acharya Prema Dorjee told PTI.

"We saw part of our coveted institution crumbling down like a house of cards. Had it been a weekday we would all have been under the debris" Dorjee said.

"We would all have died but it was our good luck that we survived. Had it been a week day no one would have survived" a senior monk said.



Lachung in North Sikkim after Earthquake

 GANGTOK, 25 Sept: Sub Divisional Megistrate, Chungthang, Tashi Chopel, the senior-most Sikkim State Government official at the devastatingly hit North Sikkim town, has a large beat to cover, covering the entire stretch north of Chungthang.
He was in station on the evening of 18 September when the earthquake struck, damaging more than 80% of the structures there leaving 12 dead and many injured. This has been the worst hit town of the State and the officer has had his hands full, his task starting immediately last Sunday with handling the rescue of people trapped in a collapsed building there. He has had to look out for the more than 2,000 people living in Chungthang will still coordinating efforts to reach relief to affected areas in the sub-division.
All roads to Chungthang, from every side is cut off but helicopter flights have finally stabilised. As the situation settles down to some extent in Chungthang, with the relief measures organised, the SDM today left for Lachung.
Inclement weather made helicopter sorties impossible, and with rumours spreading panic and confusion and to assure residents in Lachung that the administration was genuinely concerned for them, Mr. Chopel walked it to Lachung today.
Lachung is 22 kms from Chungthang, but the road is littered with landslides so big that officials are not even wagering a guess on by when it will be cleared for traffic. Mr. Chopel obviously took the risk as much to make a first-hand appraisal of the situation there as to reassure residents that concern for their welfare was genuine.
Meanwhile officials in Gangtok announced today that two Medical Officers each were being flown to the Primary Health Sub-Centres at Lachen and Lachung in Army helicopters on Sunday.

North Sikkim after earthquake photos

AFTER EARTHQUAKE PHOTOS OF NORTH SIKKIM