Eastern Joshimath Records Subsidence of 10cm Every Year, Finds Study

In the latest development to the Joshimath crisis, satellite imagery of the Uttarakhand town between 2018 and 2022 has revealed that the eastern part of it witnessed maximum subsidence with an average displacement of around 10 cm per year.

The analysis undertaken by remote sensing and landslide experts of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS or National Centre for Scientific Research, which is the French state research organization and largest fundamental science agency in Europe), Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre Strasbourg (School and Observatory for Earth Sciences, an institution under the supervisory authority of the University of Strasbourg France and CNRS) and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece was released on Thursday and pointed to the fact that the eastern part of the town, designated as unit A, has seen maximum sliding of 10 cm per year. The western side, designated as B followed suit with an annual displacement of 3 cm.

According to the research, the sliding in the lower part of the town had accelerated since January 2021 while the upper part town of the town marked as D has shown the least displacement of 2 cm per year.

“It appears that two zones (eastern and western parts of Joshimath designated as A and B in the satellite image) have been continuously moving in the past four years (2018-2022) on the downhill part of the slope. The surface displacement rates are higher in the eastern part of the slope (unit A) with a value exceeding 10 cm per year for the period 2018 to 2022,” the research paper said.

It further stated that it was the acceleration in the eastern, western, and lower parts of Joshimath town since December 22 which forced authorities to relocate people.

Notably, a similar finding was put forth by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which said that subsidence in Joshimath increased rapidly, especially in the 13-day period between December 27 and January 8 when the holy town witnessed a subsidence of 5.4 cm.

Another report released by IIRS titled “Surface Deformation of Joshimath, Chamoli District, Uttarakhand Observed through Space-based Radar Interferometry” said that Joshimath witnessed a subsidence of up to 6.6 cm between July 2020 and March 2022.

Meanwhile, Joshimath on Friday morning received heavy snowfall.

70% Joshimath Residents Leading Normal Lives

During his meeting with home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami said “65% to 70% of Joshimath residents were leading a normal life and only 30% have been affected by land subsidence”.

“Some people, through Twitter and other social media platforms, are projecting the situation in Uttarakhand as extremely scary; they are saying the entire state is under threat. I want to clarify that the situation is not like this,” the CM said. He added, “Each year, people in lakhs and crores come to the state and a wrong message should not go to them. Therefore, I would like to request people sitting in different parts of the country not to spread a wrong and misleading message.” he added.

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