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India evacuates ‘sinking’ China border town with crumbling homes on brink of collapse
- Residents of Joshimath blame the apparent subsidence on road building and tunnel construction for a nearby hydroelectric project
- Hundreds of houses and hotels are sinking in the town, near the disputed China border, which attracts thousands of pilgrims each year
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Authorities in one of the holiest towns in the Indian Himalayas have been evacuating panicked residents after hundreds of houses began developing yawning cracks and sinking, officials said.
The cause of the apparent subsidence in Joshimath in the northern state of Uttarakhand was unclear, but residents blamed the building of roads and tunnels for a nearby hydroelectric project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a high-level meeting late on Sunday to discuss the problem after the government formed an expert panel to carry out a “rapid study” into the cause.
Local official Himanshu Khurana said that at least 60 families had been relocated into shelters and many more were likely to be shifted out from their sinking dwellings.
Residents said a much larger number had already fled their homes and that around 600 houses and hotels were sinking in the town of around 20,000 people.
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