Last Monday, local officials officially deemed Joshimath catastrophe-prone and contacted technical and disaster management teams to inspect the growing devastation as the holy Himalayan town sinks into the earth.
A loud grinding sound awakened awoke thirty priests. The ceiling of their two-story ashram then started to leak small stones.
“It sounded like sandpaper rubbing against each other,” said Baba Santosh, a Hindu priest in his 50s with the snow-capped Himalayas surrounding him. “...
