Uttarakhand which was formerly known as Uttaranchal is referred to as the land of the lords and is one of the favourite tourist destinations in the northern part of India. Uttarakhand is derived from Sanskrit words Uttar” means North and “Khand” means Land. It is called the land of the lords because of the huge number of temples and pilgrimages located all over the state. Uttarakhand became the 27th state of India on 9th November 2000 after being carved from the Himalayan districts of Uttar Pradesh. It is currently the 20th most populous state. Uttarakhand is basically divided into two parts – Garhwal and Kumaon. Dehradun is the capital of Uttarakhand and is also the largest city in the state. However, the high court of the state is located in Nainital.

People from all corners of the country love visiting this hill station. Where some visit it for spiritual reasons, others visit it for leisure purposes. For the spiritual heads, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kedarnath is the place to be. Devotees from all walks of live wish to visit and pay respect at the Kedarnath temple once in their life. In June 2013, Uttarakhand experienced an unpredictable disaster that one had ever imagined of. Kedarnath, one of the highly worshipped temples of Uttarakhand, experienced a natural disaster with heavy rainfall followed with flash floods leading to one of the darkest natural disasters on 16-17 June 2013.

Kedarnath witness heavy precipitation which was 375% more than the average monsoon rainfall. This resulted in the melting of glaciers at the height of 3,800 meters and eruption of Mandakini river which led to flash floods near Rudraprayag, Kedar Dome and Gobindghat. Precipitation for four successive days as well as melting snow intensified the floods. No warnings were publicly released by the India Meteorological Department predicting heavy rains beforehand, triggering thousands of people to be unaware, resulting in huge loss of life and property.

Landslides along with floods damaged several houses and structures, leaving no sign of humanity in the affected area. Every village and each settlement which come in the way was destroyed to the granule. Highly populated areas such as Gaurikund, the market town of Ram Bada & Sonprayag suffered from heavy damage and loss of lives. All the Pilgrimage centres in the region, including Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, were also impacted.  The hallowed Hindu Chardham (four sites) pilgrimage centres are typically visited by thousands of devotees, especially after the month of July. Over 70,000 people were trapped in several regions because of this damaged or blocked roads. Visitors along with residents in other significant locations like the Valley of Flowers, Roopkund and the Sikh pilgrimage centre Hemkund were stranded for more than three days.

Though the said to be KEDAR ka DHAM, Kedarnath Temple itself was not damaged, its foundation was flooded with water, mud and rocks from the landslide, which led to an extremely damaged boundary. Hotels, rest houses and shops which were settled for years in the vicinity of the temple in Kedarnath township were destroyed, resulting in several casualties & loss of lives. Local people believed that destruction was caused by sudden rapid melting of ice and snow on the Kedarnath Mountain, 6 km (3.7 mi) from the temple, which flooded the Chorabari lake (upstream) and then Kedarnath. Post one week after this incident, dead bodies were lying there at Kedarnath town, resulting in water pollution in the Kedarnath valley and villagers who depend on spring water suffered from numerous types of life taking health problems like fever, diarrhoea etc. After the flood, the satellite captured some after disaster images which showed one new torrent at Kedarnath town. Surprisingly everything except the temple was destroyed. Kedarnath Temple was standing still untouched & blessed. Uttarakhand Government proclaimed that due to the widespread damage to the substructure, the temple will be momentarily closed to regular pilgrims and tourists for a year or two, but the temple rituals will still be upheld by priests. The doors of the temple were again opened for pilgrims on May 2014. 

An aerial survey was organized by the Prime Minister of India and an aid package of Rs. 10 billion was announced to expedite disaster relief efforts in the state. Numerous state governments along with NGOs stepped forward and announced monetary assistance. The United States extended its hand for help in the form of US $750. However, this help was later on graciously rejected by the Indian government. The government of Kerala offered Rs. 20 million and the minister’s offered their one month’s pay.

Various institution across the globe came forward with the analysis behind this gruesome disaster. A study by Utah University showed that the northern part of India as experienced increasingly heavy precipitation since the 1980s.

Extraordinary devastation witnessed in Uttarakhand state was also accredited, by environmentalists, to instinctive progressive happenings commenced in recent years leading to increased loss of property and lives. Roads laid down in hit-or-miss style, new resorts and hotels constructed on the delicate river and more than 70 hydroelectric projects in the watersheds of the state led to a "disaster about to happen". The scientist and experts acclaimed that the tunnels built and blasts undertaken for the 70 hydroelectric projects resulted in the ecological unevenness in the state, with constrained flows of river water and the streamside development activity contributing to a higher number of landslides and more flooding.

It is assumed that close to 5,000 people lost their lives in this disaster. Out of total person missing, the maximum number of people stated missing were mostly from Uttar Pradesh followed by Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, accounting for more than half of the entire number of people reported missing. As per the statement made available by the State Government, a total of 4,200 villages were impacted, 11,091 livestock were lost and 2,513 houses were completely destroyed. More than 70,000 tourists and 1,00,000 local residents were stuck in the problematic mountain land of the upper reaches of the Himalaya. The damage was so vast and extensive that it is also termed as Himalayan Tsunami.

After all these years, there is still no final count as to how many people lost their lives in this tragedy.  Once again, mother nature has dominantly shown us who rules the earth, and it is not humans. Every time humans will cross their limits, nature will always take its revenge in an even harsh way. From time to time, nature will come to us in one way or another to remind us of all the bad things we’ve done it. And most importantly, it will make us pay. Again.