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19-06-2023
Bureau Report + BBC
NEW DELHI: On 16 June 2013, a cloudburst in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides that destroyed several villages and towns. Thousands of people were swept away, and many bodies were never recovered. Ten years after the disaster, Ram Karan Beniwal who was in the temple town of Kedarnath, one of the worst-affected areas recalls the day the floods tore apart his family.
On 9 June 2013, my wife and I and five others (my two brothers, their wives and one more relative) left for Kedarnath from our home town of Jodhpur in Rajasthan. My children were busy with studies and work and decided not to join us.
My wife Chhota Devi and I had already visited three of the four main Dhams (the four Hindu pilgrimage sites of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri and Gangotri) earlier. Kedarnath was the only one left.
On 16 June, we reached the holy Kedarnath temple. After praying there, we headed down to Rambara (a small village that serves as a resting place for devotees). On our way there, it started raining heavily. We reached Rambara at 17:00 local time (11:30 GMT) and decided to spend the night there.
Click here to watch Ram Karan Beniwal narrate his story
Late in the night, we were sitting by the Alaknanda River (on the foothills of the Himalayas), chanting the name of Lord Ram. Suddenly, I heard loud noises from the river and rocks nearby.
It felt like the mountain began to tremble. It was pitch dark, so we couldn’t see clearly. Then huge boulders started rolling down, sweeping people into the violently flowing river.
I saw my wife and one of my sisters-in-law being swept away, followed by my elder brother. I couldn’t see my other relatives. I ran and stood by a large boulder, which protected me from the avalanche of rocks coming from the top.
I noticed that the hills with large trees on them weren’t crumbling as quickly as the ones that were rocky and barren. I quickly ran up one of these hills and clung on to the branch of a tree. From a distance, I saw an entire mountain dissolve into the river in front of my eyes.
That is when my mind went numb. I couldn’t process what I just saw. It was freezing cold, and my clothes were wet. There were other people around me, also holding on to trees but no one spoke a word. Everyone was gloomy and desolate. I dislocated my shoulder while hanging on to the tree, but I just put it back into place. It hurts even today.
