Sikkim, India – It was the nighttime when Tashi Choden Lepcha was jolted awake by the tremors that shook her mountainside residence in Naga village. Perched above the Teesta River, which flows by means of a gorge slightly below, Naga is a distant village in India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim. For hundreds of years, it has been residence to the Indigenous Lepcha individuals.
“It felt like an earthquake,” the 51-year-old mom of 5 says of the occasions of October 4, 2023. “The entire home was shaking. It was raining closely, there was no electrical energy, and we couldn’t see something.”
Within the pitch darkish and amid the heavy downpour that night time, Lepcha roused her three kids, aged 13, 10 and 5, and rushed out of the home together with her husband, panicking. Along with a number of neighbours, they looked for a secure area on increased floor. That’s once they observed a definite scent of mud and one thing like gunpowder.
Moments later, an unlimited, tsunami-like wave surged down with terrifying drive. Lepcha didn’t comprehend it on the time, but it surely was a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), which had been triggered by the sudden avalanche of ice and rock into the South Lhonak Lake – a glacial lake excessive up within the Teesta basin in North Sikkim.
The affect breached the lake’s moraine wall, releasing greater than 50 million cubic metres of water. The flood destroyed the 1,200-megawatt Teesta III dam – Sikkim’s largest hydropower plant, positioned at Chungthang on the River Teesta, the most important river in Sikkim, which originates within the japanese Himalayas. The dam’s collapse launched an extra 5 million cubic metres (equal to 2,000 Olympic swimming swimming pools) of reservoir water.
The high-velocity flood within the Teesta River valley carried about 270 million cubic metres of sediment and particles together with it, inflicting widespread devastation throughout Sikkim, elements of West Bengal and Bangladesh by means of which the Teesta flows.
At the very least 55 individuals have been killed, 74 went lacking, and greater than 7,025 have been displaced. The flood broken almost 26,000 buildings, destroyed 31 bridges and flooded greater than 270 sq. kilometres of farmland. It additionally triggered 45 landslides, broken 4 dams and destroyed lengthy stretches of Nationwide Freeway 10.
Each Teesta III and Teesta V, one other hydroelectric dam close to Dikchu in Balutar, have remained shut since they have been severely broken in the course of the flood. Restore work is constant, however neither of the dams has generated electrical energy for nearly two years.
Scientists say the dimensions of the destruction makes it one of the crucial devastating flooding disasters recorded within the Himalayas in latest a long time.
Rebuilding amid spoil
As we speak, Naga village, positioned about 73 kilometres from Sikkim’s capital, Gangtok, is abandoned attributable to steady land subsidence. Homes are cracked, have collapsed or are nonetheless standing however leaning in direction of the river flowing beneath. The principle NH10 highway passing by means of the village has been destroyed with lengthy, deep cracks.
In all, about 150 households misplaced their houses and land within the flood and now face an unsure future. Lepcha’s household misplaced each their homes, which collapsed within the landslides. They, together with 19 different households, are actually dwelling quickly in a authorities vacationer lodge in Singhik, about 10km from their residence.
Because the area struggles to recuperate, and communities alongside the Teesta stay displaced and weak, the Ministry of Atmosphere, Forest and Local weather Change (MoEF&CC) has authorized plans to rebuild the Teesta III dam with none public session, regardless of issues in regards to the threat of future glacial lake outburst floods and the truth that the Himalayan vary working throughout Sikkim is seismically delicate.
With the continuing monsoon season, the Teesta’s water ranges have risen considerably. This has already induced a number of landslides in North Sikkim, washing away the under-construction Sankalang bridge and slicing off giant elements of the area.
Lengthy stretches of roads throughout North Sikkim are nonetheless unpaved, muddy and stuffed with rubble. A number of bridges broken in the course of the 2023 flood and the monsoon subsequent 12 months are but to be rebuilt.
The standard management lab on the Chungthang dam website has additionally been swept away, halting development work. “It seems like a war-torn space. How will they rebuild Teesta III?” asks Gyatso Lepcha, a local weather activist with Affected Residents of Teesta (ACT), a bunch of Lepchas campaigning towards giant hydropower tasks and environmental conservation within the area.
“An in depth threat evaluation contemplating future local weather situations, glacial behaviour, hydrological adjustments, and sedimentation charges is important earlier than deciding to rebuild the dam in the identical location,” says Farooq Azam, senior cryosphere specialist on the Worldwide Centre for Built-in Mountain Improvement (ICIMOD).
Within the absence of such an evaluation, the area’s Lepcha communities, who concern additional catastrophe, are protesting towards the development.
A controversial dam
Sikkim is residence to 40 of India’s 189 probably harmful glacial lakes throughout the Himalayan area, lots of that are in danger attributable to rising temperatures and glacial soften pushed by local weather change.
Constructed on a river already lined with dams constructed by the Nationwide Hydroelectric Energy Company (NHPC), the Teesta III dam was initially pitched as a renewable vitality venture.
Authorized in 2005 with a price range of Rs 5,705 crore (about $667m), the dam truly value greater than Rs 14,000 crore ($1.6bn) to construct by the point it turned operational in 2017. Delays have been attributable to the 2011 earthquake, which destroyed main infrastructure, and in addition repeated flash floods and landslides.
The dam confronted criticism from environmentalists and the All India Energy Engineers Federation (AIPEF), which described it as a “failed instance of public-private partnership” for the large value overruns, years of delay, ecological harm and disrespect for Indigenous rights and livelihoods.
The operator, Sikkim Urja Restricted (previously Teesta Urja Ltd or TUL), was compelled to promote electrical energy at half the agreed charge as consumers, together with the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, refused to pay increased costs. In 2017, transmission delays induced but extra losses of about Rs 6 crore ($701,000) per day from June to September 2017.
Following the devastating flooding of 2023, the estimated reconstruction value for the dam is now Rs 4,189 crore ($490m), however specialists query how such a large-scale reconstruction could possibly be accomplished at lower than a 3rd of its authentic constructing value.
An investigation in Could this 12 months renewed issues in regards to the venture. The Sikkim Vigilance Police, a particular police drive, discovered irregularities within the course of used to pick the impartial energy producer, who, in line with the findings of the police investigation, lacked the {qualifications} for a venture of this scale. It was alleged that vital dam design parameters had been compromised consequently.
Different stories have discovered that environmental assessments additionally ignored key dangers. A 2006 biodiversity report [PDF] from Delhi College had recognized the Chungthang area as a extremely delicate ecological zone. But the venture obtained swift environmental clearance from the setting ministry based mostly on a report which claimed that little to no vital wildlife existed within the space. The clearance process additionally bypassed the ministry’s personal directive that no dams could possibly be authorized in Sikkim till a full “carrying capability examine” (a examine of an space’s capability for supporting human life and trade) of the Teesta basin had been accomplished.
“What was the hurry to present clearance for rebuilding even earlier than the Central Water Fee and Central Electrical energy Authority cleared the design?” asks Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Community on Dams, Rivers and Folks (SANDRP), an advocacy group engaged on the water sector. “The Environmental Influence Report (EIA) used was carried out earlier than 2006, which didn’t think about the chance of a GLOF. It contributed to the catastrophe, and now the identical flawed EIA is getting used once more. Even the dam security report ready after the collapse hasn’t been made public or thought of for this choice.”
Whereas a “concrete confronted rockfill dam” is deliberate this time – supposedly extra resilient to flooding than the outdated “concrete gravity dam” design – specialists and native communities nonetheless fear this gained’t be sufficient as a result of, they are saying, key affect research are incomplete.
Al Jazeera reached out to MoEF&CC with questions on why the Teesta III reconstruction had been authorized with no new EIA, regardless of issues over security and ecological impacts. Questions have been additionally despatched to Sikkim Urja Ltd relating to reconstruction plans and structural security and to NHPC in regards to the cumulative impacts of a number of dams alongside the Teesta. Emails and calls to all these places of work remained unanswered by the point of publication.
Tunnelling and blasting in the course of the authentic development of Teesta III, earlier than it opened in 2017, led to landslides, erosion and harm to houses. But, no complete evaluation has been carried out on seismic dangers, lowered river circulate or long-term ecological impacts.
“Our soil is fragile,” says Sangdup Lepcha, president of ACT. “We’re seeing extra landslides yearly. Through the GLOF, the soil was fully washed away. If tunnels are dug once more beneath our villages, the realm may collapse.”
Sangdup, who lives in Sanggong village in Decrease Dzongu, says the 10km stretch from Namprikdang to Dikchu is the one remaining stretch of the Teesta with none dams.
Many fear that if the rebuilding of Teesta III continues with out safeguards, it would put villages in danger. “We’ve got already seen what occurred in Naga,” says Sangdup. “Why is the venture getting emergency clearance whereas affected households are nonetheless ready for rehabilitation?”
Sacred land
Dzongu, a area bordering the Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve in North Sikkim, is a protected reserve for the Indigenous Lepcha group. Recognized for his or her religious ties to the rivers and mountains, the Lepchas from Dzongu have lengthy resisted large-scale hydropower tasks within the area to guard their id, livelihoods and the biodiversity of the area.
When a number of dams have been proposed within the early 2000s alongside the Teesta basin – a river the Lepchas revere as a dwelling deity – ACT spearheaded protests towards dam development. Their starvation strikes and protests led to the cancellation of 4 main hydropower tasks in Dzongu and 4 exterior.
“We’re animists,” says Mayalmit Lepcha, ACT’s common secretary. “Our traditions, tradition, id, and all the pieces else are tied to Mount Kanchenjunga, Teesta, Rangeet and Rongyong rivers right here.”
Regardless of their lengthy historical past of activism, the communities say they have been ignored in the course of the public session course of, although their land and rivers could be used for the proposed 520 MW Teesta IV hydroelectric venture.
At the very least 16 villages lie close to the potential development website, throughout the agricultural belt of North Sikkim. The venture would come with constructing tunnels beneath Hee Gyathang and Sanggong villages in Dzongu to hold water to the facility station. The siltation tunnel, which is able to divert sediment-laden water away from the principle reservoir, is meant to run beneath the Tung Kyong Dho, a sacred lake recognized for its wealthy biodiversity.
Songmit Lepcha, from Dzongu’s Hee Gyathang village, instructed Al Jazeera that she misplaced her livestock and plantation throughout flash floods in June final 12 months. “We’re fearful of rebuilding our houses,” Songmit stated, her voice stuffed with fear.
Opposition Citizen Motion Get together (CAP) chief Ganesh Rai instructed Al Jazeera that he’s significantly anxious in regards to the new plans to rebuild the dam to a top of 118.64 metres, twice as excessive as the unique. “With local weather change intensifying, any future breach may submerge all of Chungthang,” he stated. “It gained’t simply have an effect on Dzongu however everybody downstream.”
That might embrace settlements in Dikchu, Rangpo, Singtam and Kalimpong, and Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in West Bengal, which have been severely affected by the 2023 flood. In locations like Bhalukhola close to Melli, households have been dwelling in makeshift reduction camps because the 2023 floods. Circumstances are tough, with restricted entry to scrub water, sanitation and medical care.
Struggles downstream
The 2023 flood didn’t simply destroy 22-year-old Leboon Thapa’s household residence in Bhalukhola in north Bengal, about 100km downstream from the location of the outdated Teesta III dam. It additionally disrupted his goals of knowledgeable soccer profession.
Leboon is now dwelling together with his dad and mom in a single, cramped room inside a reduction camp alongside the Teesta freeway, which is located above Bhalukhola. They’re sandwiched between works being carried out to widen the freeway in entrance of their website, and the continuing tunnel development work for the Sevoke-Rangpo railway venture behind them. The uncovered location leaves them prone to landslides and flooding.
“If they’re rebuilding the dam, they need to construct safety partitions right here for our security,” says the lanky, athletic younger man, trying round at what’s left of his village. The fields he performed soccer in as a toddler, in addition to the playground he as soon as ran about in, are actually buried beneath silt and particles. “We solely have this land. If we lose it, the place will we go?”
About 10km additional downstream in Teesta Bazar, 68-year-old Tikaram Karki misplaced his home and bike restore store to the 2023 flooding. His residence, constructed above the riverbank, started cracking and sliding only a few days after the flood.
“We have been hiding within the mountains within the rain. After we got here again at 6am, there have been no homes, roads, or electrical energy,” he says, as he stands subsequent to what stays of his home and store, each of that are leaning steeply in direction of the Teesta. He smiles at the same time as he talks about his losses since that dreadful night time.
Tikaram now lives in a rented home together with his household of 4. He’s paying Rs 8,000 ($93) month-to-month hire whereas fighting monetary losses as he has no technique to run his enterprise.
He obtained some compensation from the West Bengal state authorities, but it surely doesn’t cowl all he has misplaced. “I’ve been dwelling right here for 30 years and spent Rs 30 lakh ($35,000) constructing my home. I solely obtained Rs 75,000 ($876) in compensation. What is going to occur with that?”
Like others right here, Tikaram says he believes the destruction was made worse by years of poor planning and unchecked silt buildup attributable to the dam, which raised the riverbed of the Teesta.
“If they’d cleared the silt in the course of the dry months, we wouldn’t be so weak now,” he says.
“I can not inform the federal government to not construct the dam, however they need to construct correct safety for all of the individuals nonetheless dwelling alongside Teesta,” provides Tikaram.
Rising threat
In a January 2025 study by a global group of scientists and NGOs printed within the Science journal, researchers warned that South Lhonak Lake is without doubt one of the extra quickly increasing and dangerous glacial lakes in Sikkim. The lake expanded from 0.15 sq. kilometres in 1975 to 1.68sq km by 2023, posing a hazard of flooding to the communities downstream.
“The Teesta-III dam performed a big function in amplifying the downstream affect of the South Lhonak GLOF catastrophe,” Azam, on the Worldwide Centre for Built-in Mountain Improvement (ICIMOD), tells Al Jazeera.
Azam explains that whereas the disastrous flood couldn’t have been prevented, its affect may have been considerably lowered by means of higher infrastructure planning and lively monitoring of the lake. “Bolstered spillways, sediment dealing with methods, and early warning methods linked to upstream sensors may have offered vital response time,” he says.
The night time the flood hit, the dam’s energy station was nonetheless working. In keeping with Thakkar, authorities had obtained alerts effectively prematurely, however there have been no commonplace working procedures or emergency protocols in place about opening spillway gates throughout such conditions. “And there was no accountability since,” he added.
Thakkar says he’s deeply involved that the dam is being rebuilt with out considering the flood potential based mostly on present rainfall patterns.
“And what occurs to the opposite downstream dams when this one releases extra water in the course of the subsequent flood?” he requested. “None of them are being redesigned to resist that form of extra circulate.”
On the finish of Could, there was a landslide at the Teesta VI dam site in Singtam. “That is occurring each monsoon,” stated Gyatso.
Rai criticises the state’s priorities, saying the federal government was “pushing for extra dams as a substitute of strengthening catastrophe preparedness” at a time when the frequency of maximum climate occasions is anticipated to extend.
‘No Future Right here’
Almost two years after the October 2023 flood, Tashi Choden Lepcha nonetheless has no residence. Her voice chokes up as she speaks about her homes in Naga village.
“We have been born there, raised kids there. Now now we have nothing,” she says of herself and her husband, wiping her tears. Her brother used to reside subsequent door: he misplaced all the pieces as effectively.
After the catastrophe, she, her husband and kids stayed in a faculty constructing in Naga. However when cracks appeared within the faculty partitions, they have been shifted to Singhik. The lodge, too, is starting to indicate cracks within the kitchen and toilet.
Her husband and kids have since relocated to Siliguri, about 150km away, for work and schooling, whereas she stayed behind alone as a result of she teaches at Naga Secondary College.
The federal government gave them Rs 1.3 lakh ($1,520) in compensation, however most of it went on the price of shifting their belongings to completely different areas.
There have been discussions about allocating land increased up within the mountains for the displaced households. However lots of them concern it may take years earlier than they’re rehoused. “If the federal government provides us land in a secure location, we are able to construct a home. How lengthy can we reside like this? We’ve got no future right here,” she says now.
Most individuals within the surrounding villages share her fears. They need the dam venture scrapped or moved to a safer location.
Mayalmit echoes this name for warning. “We’re going to have extra GLOFs, there’s little doubt,” she says.
“Folks may have confidence provided that choices are based mostly on correct affect assessments, contemplating all components, and carried out in a clear method,” Thakkar provides. “However that’s not occurring now, which is why there’s scepticism about hydro tasks amongst locals.”
He says that Indigenous communities should be a part of the decision-making course of. “They’re those most in danger, and in addition probably the most educated.”
Praful Rao of Save The Hills, an NGO working in catastrophe administration in North Bengal and Sikkim, has known as for joint catastrophe planning between the 2 states. “What occurs upstream impacts us downstream. It’s time we work collectively for science-based catastrophe planning, not blindly push dam tasks for income.”
Whereas hydroelectricity is vital for India’s vitality future, Rao warns towards unchecked enlargement. “You’ll be able to’t construct dams each few kilometres. We have to examine what number of this fragile area can safely assist.”
Mayalmit urges central and state authorities to rethink the approval. “Don’t act towards Indigenous rights, the setting. I communicate for the rivers, the birds and the animals right here.”