Tragedy in Sikkim

The catastrophe underlines big dam weaknesses

Global warming and big dams are literally proving to be a deadly combination, especially in the Himalayas, as the recent tragedy in Sikkim has demonstrated. With a death toll of 82 and rising, this disaster is the third of its kind in the past 10 years, involving heavy rain, glacial melt, and the failure of dams to control catastrophic flooding as a result. In 2013 and 2021, heavy rain precipitated glacial melting in the upper reaches of fast-flowing Himalayan rivers, sending enormous amounts of water tumbling downstream without warning, killing people and livestock and destroying properties worth thousands of crores