Liven

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LivenCQuick!Savior!

Team!Control!Centre!!
Adhyyan!Sekhsaria! Aditya!Bhattacharji!! Aditya!Narayanan!! Hrishabh!Parekh!!! Khushi!Rungta! Ronak!Rungta!! Saachi!Dholakia!! Vatsin!Suchak!
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Executive!Summary!
! Throughout!history!mankind!has!been!at!the!mercy!of!nature.!In!ancient!times!floods!and!volcanoes!could! destroy!entire!civilizations.!Over!the!years,!mankind!has!learned!more!about!how!to!predict!weather! patterns!and!how!to!prepare!better!for!extreme!conditions.!However,!at!the!same!time,!the!encroachment! of!‘civilization’!has!resulted!in!indiscriminate!deforestation,!quarrying!and!construction!due!to!which! extreme!weather!conditions!sometimes!cause!an!even!more!severe!impact!on!the!local!population!than! would!otherwise!have!been!the!case.! In!summer!of!2013,!Uttrakhand,!a!state!in!Northern!India,!received!a!sudden!cloudburst!with!rains!of!nearly! four!times!the!average!over!a!twoCday!period.!This!heavy!rain!caused!the!melting!of!the!Chorabari!glacier,! which!in!turn!resulted!in!flash!floods!and!landslides!further!downstream.!The!affected!area!is!a!very!popular! site!for!religious!tourism.!However,!many!tourists!are!underCequipped!for!these!conditions,!and!the!support! infrastructure!is!relatively!weak.!There!are!also!allegations!that!as!a!result!of!illegal!logging!and!quarrying,! the!hillsides!had!already!been!weakened.!The!consequence!was!horrific,!with!over!5,700!lives!being!lost,! severe!damage!to!many!towns!and!at!least!100,000!people!stranded,!needing!to!be!rescued.!! We!interviewed!a!number!of!people!who!shared!their!insights!into!the!situation!to!help!us!understand!the! key!problems!faced:!!! • • • Dr.!Saurabh!Mehra,!who!was!amongst!the!first!medical!professionals!to!reach!the!area;!! Mr!Anuj!Shah,!who!had!been!camping!in!the!area!and!had!to!be!rescued;!! Ms!Gayatri!Dhume!who!was!with!an!NGO!involved!in!relief!operations.!!!

We!realized!that!in!the!aftermath!of!such!a!disaster,!there!were!a!number!of!obvious!problems!such!as!lack!...