Of the twelve Jyotirlinga of Siva, the northernmost one is Kedarnath. It is also the location of the samadhi of Adi Shankaracharya, the Hindu philosopher and teacher who originally codified the concepts of Advaita Vedanta.

A lot of conflicting reports are still coming out about the flooding disaster that destroyed the town of Kedarnath and claimed the lives of thousands, with reasons ranging all the way from unprecedented, climate-change-fueled flooding to the wrath of Siva. The answer, however, is never “something in the middle” but always a combination of factors that cross disciplines and, unfortunately, functions of government.

Reason 1: Geology And Meteorology – We Know What Happens When Terrain And Weather Coincide

The Geological Survey of India’s Landslide page states that “landslide, a frequently occurring natural hazard in the hilly terrains of India, shows preponderance of activity during the monsoon period from July to September and after the snow fall from January to March.” The monsoons arrived a bit early in 2013, but what happened this time around to cause so much destruction?

Dave Petley of the AGU Landslide Blog has been doing a great job keeping track of news and images of Kedarnath and surrounding areas, and explaining what happened. He speculated on the causes of the landslide or as he properly refers to it – a debris flow – and followed it up with the most likely culprit: “[not unprecedented] rainfall fell at a time when there was still [melting] snow on the ground.”

… any high mountain landslide expert will tell you that the combination of heavy rainfall on melting snow is tailor-made for landslides. The effect of the heavy rainfall and rapid snow melt was to generate huge amounts of water in the landscape.

… In Kedarnath, hostels had started to collapse, probably as a result of erosion of the edges of the terrace on which the town was built. However, upstream above the eastern snout of the Charobari glacier a larger slope failure developed.

In this post, Dave carefully analyzes satellite images to show that a glacial moraine barrier was breached and that Kedarnath was hit by two flows from two different directions simultaneously.

Reason 2: The Buildings – There’s Always Money To Be Made In Salvation, Especially If You Cut Corners

The picture at the beginning of the post shows what Kedarnath looked like back in 1882. A small temple situated in a glacial valley with a few temporary huts around it. It still is a small temple, but with a disproportionately large tourist economy rapidly built up around it in the last thirty or so years (and no easily navigable roads leading to or away from there).

That was knocked completely down by the flood.

This is the part where you read “glacial valley” and “rapidly-built-up tourist economy,” think of Indian monsoon season, and hear those alarm bells in your head getting louder. Note that the eighth-century temple stood. Not divine intervention, but the product of small and solid building for the future as opposed to random structures slapped together with no care for longevity or safety.

A Frontline India article states, “Given the vulnerability of the region, the town itself has come up in a very dangerous location. Therefore, how much of the destruction in this event was actually man-made is a moot question.”

No, it’s not. The death toll nears 4000. That many people would not have died had Kedarnath remained a simple temple and not become a tourist trap.

We disrespect our own great nature-conquering ideas when we poorly implement them, and then lament disasters when they were bound to happen. We are inherently creatures of risk and we may even calculate it correctly, but acceptance of a predictably negative outcome is not our strong suit.

If you know of a reputable way (as in not Red Cross) to donate or otherwise help out, please let me know in the comments.

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I briefly stepped out of my room which is located in a complex at the back of the Kedarnath temple. I saw people running for their lives. The eighth century samadhi of Adiguru Shankaracharya couldn’t withstand nature’s fury. Two statues of Shankaracharya, a sphatik linga and a Hanuman statue were swept away. What remains are just some remnants of the structure. Several nearby ashrams were also washed away. We ran inside the temple complex to save ourselves. Around a dozen of us took shelter there till midnight. The next morning was far more terrible.

– Shankaracharya samadhi swept away, The Times of India.

What I find most remarkable about my father is how socially progressive he has been as long as I’ve known him. In the golden era of the macho male, he supported his sister’s love of human physiology and my mother in her own esteemed career. He has never once told me that I am intellectually incapable or socially inferior to anyone, much less a man, has always wished my brother to achieve above and beyond himself and looks forward with pride to the achievements of his granddaughters. Dad has always treated family as his most prized possessions, even and often putting us above his own needs. Another amazing thing about him is he would do it all over again, no questions asked, if that’s what is required. Such loyalty may be quaint, unheard of and even unrewarded now, but I believe it defines a man“s character.

1. This week, I am teaching myself more rock physics and, on the side, how to extract more information from seismic data. Matteo Niccoli’s post on seismic terrain displays cannot be more timely. I guess the same 3d terrain outcome may be achieved for any seismic attribute along a surface parallel to the dipping zone of interest as opposed to a horizontal surface (like a time slice), but wavelet phase is powerful because “discrete boundaries corresponding to unique positions on the wavelet are displayed on instantaneous phase slices this intra-wavelet detail is lost on amplitude slices.” Seismic terrain, in this case, builds on the phase attribute and can be viewed as hills and valleys of instantaneous wavelength between successive wavelet peaks or troughs.

2. Meanwhile, back in InformationLand, Matt and I are single-handedly out to save the geophysical conference from somewhere the public domain of geophysical thought goes to die into a place of open discussion and wider dissemination. We sorely need interested and informed scientists entering geoscience, much less the industry, so secret meetings are not the way to go. Would you be into participating in a geophysical Ignite-style or Birds Of A Feather session at an upcoming geophysical conference? More importantly, are you willing to mentor one young person into a future of art, science, health or wherever their passion may lie? It’s about giving young people ways to achieve and create, even if they never become geoscientists.

3. That said, if you don’t want to become a geologist after reading Carl Zimmer’s latest for the New York Times, I don’t know about you, dude.

4. This month’s Accretionary Wedge is Seeing Geology Everywhere. And I see seismic everywhere, which tells you something about the human brain’s love affair with pattern recognition. It also reminds me I haven’t sent out prizes for the Accretionary Wedge hosted here a few months back.

Post-apocalyptic earth. Disaffected teenage half-human-half-Minbari (HHHM) chick and Malcolm Reynolds are on their way to scavenge space discoballs that fall to earth. Steampunk-decked half-human-half-Minbari discover and attempt to kill them all Mad-Max-gang style but Pouty HHHM Girl and Mal run into the forest and are attacked by RUSS. Shtako! Marshall Bullock shows up in time and takes the heroes back to Deadwood where Dirty Dancing plays out in the Zocalo with a purple-haired albino vampire as Johnny Castle. Then, Voldemort kills Cedric Diggory in the Forbidden Forest and Mal has sex with Trixie (you’re welcome). Albino Vampire Johnny Castle is suspected of the murder and a fight erupts at the Gem Saloon in which Marshall Bullock is killed and there’s a new sheriff in town (“His name is Reggie Hammond. Y’all be cool. Right on!”) Obviously New Sheriff Mal tracks down Cedric’s killer by momentarily turning into Jonny Lee Miller Plays Sherlock Holmes while Pouty Mongo has a heart to heart with Deputy Bart. Then, Aegon Targaryen has sex with Lady Cersei Macbeth in the bath. Turns out Mayor Olson’s shtako assistant – the lovechild of Max Headroom and Hellraiser Minus The Pins – is a traitor who works for unseen forces that want Deadwood destroyed for whatever reason. After he deactivates the force field around Deadwood and lies dying, Pinheadroom Minus Pins warns that the Nazgul are going to attack with orcs and Decepticons in tow. Mayor Olson finds her ovaries (and security horse blanket) and convinces everyone to stay and fight. The Decepticons easily scale the shtako walls of Helm’s Deep, but are inexplicably shot dead like Stormtroopers once again rendering their heavy armor completely moot other than to look somewhat badass. Pouty HHHM Girl comes back with the Rohirrim steampunk-alien-Mad-Max gang and they rout the enemy from the rear. The Witch King of Angmar knocks Pouty HHHM Girl off her bike at which time she so badly wants to yell, “I am no man!” and shiv him but is rudely interrupted by Deputy Bart. Shtako. Shortly thereafter, the disco ball that another female Pinhead Minus Pins couldn’t get to work until now detonates and obliterates every creature in the valley except for the good guys. Mayor Olson takes a bullet but recovers and peace is temporarily restored to Deadwood. A clandestine meeting in Dr. Loveless’s railcar reveals that Morpheus and the Oracle are really the bad guys or emissaries thereof. Dun dun shtako duuuun. Stay tuned.

Cameos by a bunch of albinos of House Harkonnen, the orangutans from Planet Of The Apes, Abe Sapien on steroids, and the Lorax. Excellent soundtrack by one Mr. Bear McCreary. Also shtako shtako shtako shtako shtako.

This post brought to you by way too much exposure to pop fiction books, television and film and Vicks, the makers of NyQuil.

P.S. Will I continue to watch the show? I am definitely giving it a few more episodes to stand on its legs. Furthermore, guest appearances by BSG cast members have been promised.