A group of local women sit in silence on a railing at the edge of Mukhba village, looking down at what remains of Dharali, just 1.5 km away. The expressions on their faces show deep sorrow. They saw the disaster unfold in front of their eyes as massive slush and debris rushed down the slopes, sweeping through Dharali village, destroying buildings and washing away people who were trying to run for their lives.
The women watched helplessly as more than half the village was flattened in seconds. What was once a vibrant, beautiful village is now buried under rubble. The women are still in shock.
They say 70 to 90 per cent of Dharali now lies under debris. It had been a normal afternoon until the disaster hit without warning. The disaster didn’t give a chance to people to do anything to protect themselves or their belongings.
“We couldn't do anything. All we did was shout and whistle to alert people. We kept only shouting. Dharali is a neighbouring village. We knew almost everyone there. Only god knows what happened to them,” said Asha Semwal, a local resident said.
“People down there were crying help... help but we couldn't do anything. Some people lost their entire families. It was like a nightmare. Everything was shining in the morning and by afternoon it was all gone,” Nisha Semwal, who hailed from neighbouring village Markandeya, said.
Sulochana Devi, a resident of Mukhba village, said the tragedy left her dumbstruck.
“I am speechless. I only appeal to the government to help the affected people,” she said. Many locals believe that the number of missing people could be more than 150.
“There were local villagers, labourers from Nepal and Bihar working at the under-construction hotels as well as tourists in Dharali bazar when the disaster struck. Their number would not have been less than 150,” a villager said.
According to a local priest in Mukhba, "We whistled to alert people but it was not an ordinary flood. It was a deluge. Bihari and Nepali labourers, tourists and locals were all there at the market. There were 20-25 big hotels which were demolished. The 500-year-old Kalp Kedar temple was also buried.”
Jairaj, an undergraduate student from Uttarkashi in Mukhba, said his mother was the first to see the flood coming and warned him. He rushed to a place from where the whole area was visible.
“There were at least 25-30 people outside the structures in Dharali market at the time. I don't know how many were there inside over a dozen hotels which were razed to the ground. I whistled and whistled to alert people about the approaching disaster but could not do much as the mudslide came rushing and in a jiffy everything was over,” Jairaj said.
"Dharali has a population of 400. At the time of the incident some were at the market, some at the Hardoodh fair in the village and some at their homes as it was lunch time. There were tourists from outside staying at the hotels," Jaivir Negi, who works at a hotel, said.
Suresh Semwal, secretary of the Gangotri temple committee, estimated the loss and number of people missing. “The number of the missing must be somewhere between 50 to 100. The disaster must have caused a loss of at least Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore in Dharali,” he said.
Suresh Semwal, secretary of the Gangotri temple committee, said "The number of the missing must be somewhere between 50 to 100. The disaster must have caused a loss of at least Rs 300 to Rs 400 crore in Dharali."
Sanjay Singh Panwar, who owned a hotel named Himgiri in Dharali, said his hotel was destroyed in the tragedy.
"The flood came at a speed of at least 500 kmph. It didn't allow people time to understand what was happening and where they should run to save their lives," he said.
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