The Himalayas are a fascination for mountaineers, trekkers and naturalists. There is another class to be added and that is of Indian saints, seers, mendicants and recluses who find solace in the Himalayan recesses. The Himalayas are inseparable from Indian mythology, geography and history. So many legends and stories are woven around saints and seers, deities, gods and goddesses reported to have their abode on the Himalayas. Worshippers are to be found roaming the sequestered gorges and ravines of these mountains where human beings and animals live in proximity. It was in the Himalayas that ancient researchers of Ayurveda found herbs and plants with extraordinary attributes of healing so many ailments.
But little is said in our mythological lore about the disasters caused by the flash floods of water bodies of the Himalayas and the unprecedented devastations that have been caused to human and animal life and also to the plant life. The recent flash flood in Uttarakhand is an instance to elucidate what we mean to state. Therefore it is in the fitness of things that there is loud thinking with some circles that the Himalayas should be managed. It means that a study should be conducted by experts to suggest the reasons why calamities like flash floods are caused and what could be done to control them to whatever limits we can. In this context the example of Japan is very relevant. In that country, prone to earthquakes, people have set up disaster management system that is immediately galvanized into action when a disaster happens. We could also have a system that would work efficiently in a situation of disaster and in particular in the parts of the country that lie in the foothills and slopes of the Himalayas.
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