2010 Leh floods

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2010 Leh floods

Duration:	6 August 2010
Fatalities:	125
Areas affected:	Leh

The 2010 Leh floods occurred on August 6, 2010 in Leh in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. At least 125 people died and thousands were injured as heavy rains overnight caused flash floods and mudslides.^[1] Thousand more were rendered homeless according to government officials. ^[2]

Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Flooding 3 Response 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Background

Leh city is the largest town in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. It is on a plateau at around 3500 meters above Sea level and usually receives very little rainfall.^[3] It is predominantly Buddhist and popular with tourists for its natural beauty.^[1] August is the peak tourist season when thousands of western backpackers flock the area. Described as a 'high altitude desert' the area has sparse rainfall and a heavy downpour is a rare occurrence.^[4] Leh receives about 80,000 foreign and 100,000 domestic tourists annually.^[5]

[edit] Flooding

The flash floods happened after a night of heavy downpour. The rains came after midnight and surprised everyone.^[6] The rains were triggered by a cloudburst that happened between 12:30 AM and 1 AM.^[7] Many buildings were destroyed including Hospitals, bus terminals, radio station transmitter, telephone exchange and mobile-phone towers.^[3] The local bus station was damaged and some of the buses were carried more than a mile by the mud.^[4] The city's airport was damaged but this was repaired and relief flights were expected to come in the following day. The village of Choglamsar on the outskirts of the city was particularly badly hit.^[1] All of the estimated 3000 tourists in the area including 1000 foriegners were safe according to local officials.^[5]

[edit] Response

The rescue efforts were hampered by gushing water and mud which was 10 feet high in places. In addition many of the roads leading to Leh were damaged making it difficult to truck relief supplies in.^[4] Four hundred critically wounded people were evacuated and some were admitted to army hospital in Leh.^[3] Indian Army soldiers launched a massive rescue operation.^[8] Home minister P. Chidambaram said that over 6000 security personnel were deployed in Leh for rescue operations. Prime minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief and announced compensation of 100,000 rupees to the kin of deceased and 50,000 Rupees for those injured.^[3] Chief Minister of the state Omar Abdullah directed the administration to undertake relief effort on a war footing.^[9]