Disaster Preparedness and Resilience Planning in Alaknanda Valley, Uttarakhand: A Critical Review of Government Development Policies

River Alaknanda Basin is characterized as hilly terrain consisting of steep sloppy landfills with settlements along the river basins and hill sides. Along the periphery of two kilometers, there are major habitats, which are withstanding on the waters of Alaknanda river and the ecological settings created by it. The stability of landforms of the Himalayan region, specifically in the Alaknanda valley, has been badly disturbed by reshaping geological settings by deconstruction and converting river streams into reservoirs. The Himalayan region is in a situation of frequent landslides, earthquakes and flash floods, mainly during monsoons and sighted Geomorphological condition of the terrain. In contrary, development policies have been witnessed harsh on these fragile mountains and its settings, which are not only inviting drastic man-made calamities, but also trigging natural disasters. In this paper, a critical analysis have been done, by taking case of Joshimath, a hilly area settlement situated in District Chamoli (Uttarakhand), and with the help of established researches and various reports which indicates that there should be least strident development structure for the Middle Himalayan Belt including Alaknanda Velley, where an Ekistical Model of Sustainable approach has been suggested so that the eco-system of these terrains could be safeguarded.