Joshimath is sinking.
That’s the harsh reality for the town — and its 25,000 residents — in India’s Uttarakhand state. The crisis, which came to a head earlier this year, is due to a combination of factors — many of them human-caused — and has been building for some time in Joshimath, a town that is a gateway to popular Himalayan trekking trails, mountain climbing routes and holy Hindu sites.
But the subsidence in the town, which sits at an altitude of 2,000 meters, is having an even bigger impact than ever before, with over 800 buildings having developed cracks, forcing at least 4,000 people to evacuate and abandon their way of life.