Watch: Avalanche hits mountains around Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand
The details regarding the status of the yatra are currently awaited. Appearing like a watershed from distance, the glacier in the Himalayan region behind the famous Hindu temple of Lord Shiva broke down for the second time in the last month.
A massive avalanche struck the mountains behind the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand on Saturday morning but no damage was reported to the shrine. A video shared by news agency ANI shows a huge mass of snow with other materials sliding downhill and producing an enormous cloud of icy particles rising high into the air.
“An avalanche occurred this morning in the Himalayan region but no damage was sustained to the Kedarnath temple," Ajendra Ajay, President of Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, said to ANI.
The details regarding the status of the yatra are currently awaited. Appearing like a watershed from distance, the glacier in the Himalayan region behind the famous Hindu temple of Lord Shiva broke down for the second time in the last month.
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Earlier the avalanche had occurred in the catchment of Chorabari Glacier-situated at a distance of about 5 km behind Kedarnath temple- on the evening of September 22.
What is an avalanche?
According to National Geographic, during an avalanche, a mass of snow, rock, ice, soil, and other material slides swiftly down a mountainside. Avalanches of rocks or soil are often called landslides. Snowslides, the most common kind of avalanche, can sweep downhill faster than the fastest skier.
A snow avalanche begins when an unstable mass of snow breaks away from a slope. A large, fully developed avalanche can weigh as much as a million tons. It can travel faster than 320 kilometres per hour (200 miles per hour).