The forest fire that kept on ravaging an alarmingly large swathe of forest lands for nearly one month in Uttarakhand would not just impact the people, the wild life and the glaciers. It would also increase chances of landslides in the coming days if the specialists are to be believed.
This because of the fact that the trees and the shrubs which give stability to the mountains have been burnt on a large scale. The possibility of flood is increased many times thanks to the destruction wrought by the forest fire. Besides, the rains having started now, the carbon will mix up with river water and it would affect the quality of water as well.
Experts say that whenever a fire erupts it burns forest, shrubs, insects and animals. Now, the remains of these will mix up with the flowing water and subsequently, the water of the river would be affected. Finally, the water we get from our taps would be affected.
“This is an ominous possibility. Drinking contaminated water would bring about diseases like diarrhea. In Dehradun, cases of diarrhea are on the spiral. More would follow in the coming days that would affect general health of the people,” one of the specialists said.
“Uttarakhand being a landslide prone State with the hills remaining fragile, the forest fire-spawned possibility of increasing the threat of landslips would take things to a grim level. This is imminent, given the fact that a fairly large number of trees and bushes have been burnt out in the forest infernos that raged for nearly a month.
Trees and shrubs perishing in the fire have made the hills more fragile and subsequently, once the rainy season comes things might be infinitely worse for the people living in the vicinity of the hills. Some protective mechanism should be put into motion right now. Otherwise, it would become too late,” said another specialist.
He further said flood might come hand in hand with the landslips as an impact of the forest fire with the onset of the rainy season. “ This is natural as the rain water will gush into the rivers as it would face less hindrance with the forest being eliminated on a large scale.
This would ensure that the plains would bear the brunt of floods. There is another negative aspect of the forest fire. Rain water while flowing in streams and rivers helps increases the moisture level in the forest and also helps in ground water recharge. But this year, things are grim,” he added.