As many has 46 forest fires have been reported in Uttarakhand in the last four days. So far, the forest department of the state has incurred a loss of Rs 1.32 lakhs due to the incident.
The rising temperatures and the hot spell across North India is said to have been the main reason for the fires. In fact, on May 26th, North India was the warmest region on the globe, along with south-east Pakistan.
While 2 people have already lost their lives due to the forest fires, the incident has affected 71 hectares of forest land in Uttarakhand. The hilly state has a total of 38000 square kilometers of forest land, which is home to around 1145 wildlife species. More than half of these species are also said to be in danger due to the fires.
The Government says this may not be the worst year for the forest fires
However, the government has said that this may not be the worst year for wildfires as intermittent rains and high moisture levels have helped in preventing such instances. A tweet said: “Forest fires have come down a lot this season. Partly due to less anthropogenic activity and partly due to rains.”
Devastating pictures of the wildfires
Meanwhile, Twitter users have started posting devastating pictures of the wildfires on the platform. Here are some of the tweets which are going viral:
Again, we aren't paying attention to #UttarakhandForestFire
Around 5 hectares of forest is burnt in the last 2 days. Millions of Animals & Trees are at stake. There is report of over 20 incidents of fire in the span of just four days.
Do we care about our Mother Earth? pic.twitter.com/mpzuQDDP3L— UCIFoundationOfficial (@FoundationUci) May 26, 2020
WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Forest fire breaks out in Uttarakhand(Photo courtes: ANI) #wildfire #fireBREAKS #PrayForHumanity#prayforuttarakhand #Uttarakhand#COVID19 #EidAlFitr #Betaal #PrayForBengal #prayforindia pic.twitter.com/rlI12L6AMf
— Pramit Maity (@musafir_1509) May 24, 2020
Uttarakhand is burning from 4 days ,it has been reported Uttarakhand has lost nearly 51.43 hectares of forest cover ,46 Wildfires & Over Half The Wildlife Species are In Danger & the worst part no media channel is showing this!#UttarakhandForestFire
https://t.co/2OGTkqmkDC— waje (@brightwims) May 26, 2020
How many of you are aware that our Uttarakhand is burning for the last few days?
46 wildfire incidents, 51.34 hectares, 71.05 repository of herbs & wildlife diversity gutted. It's sad to see so much wildlife destroyed.
Bdw 2020, what else?#UttarakhandForestFire@ParveenKaswan pic.twitter.com/mxnp2a5PM1
— Nausheen Khan (@DrNausheenKhan) May 26, 2020
#SaveTheHimalayas starts trending on Twitter
With too little media coverage and no big names involved in spreading awareness about the situation, the netizens have taken upon themselves to spread the word.
Human civilization has become the most ever technologically advanced in history but sadly none have bothered to develop any mechanism to prevent, monitor & counter the #wildfires. If we don't act to save nature today, future generations won't praise us tomorrow.#SaveTheHimalayas pic.twitter.com/LCCFY28ePY
— Kapil Pareek (@thekapilpareek) May 27, 2020
The fire broke out in Uttarakhand forest. 46 wildfire incidents in 2020. More than half of birds species & wildlife are in danger. Our Uttarakhand is burning for the last 4 days. 2020 is getting worst. ?#Uttarakhand #UttarakhandForestFire #wildlife pic.twitter.com/HuZZ7z3zyW
— Suman Bisht (@pahadi_suman) May 26, 2020
No media coverage, no relief, no immediate response, no mention by gov. Deeply saddened but now its become a regular thing to ignore the issues of this dev bhoomi #UttarakhandForestFire #PrayForUttarakhand #SaveTheHimalayas pic.twitter.com/s0OOGVtmmF
— अंshu pandey (@Anshupndy8881) May 27, 2020
Source: India TV News/ Business Insider
