Joshimath, the sacred gateway to pilgrimage and housing more than 25000, breaks down one fine morning. More than 68 families were evacuated, 700 homes declared unsafe and people’s pleas gone unheard. Several experts have tried to unpack what actually went wrong with the sinking hill town of Uttarakhand. Residents of Joshimath, in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district have been evacuating their homes to seek safety due to the issue of land subsidence in the region. Cracks had begun appearing on houses in the city due to the vertical sinking of land in the area. Around nine wards of Joshimath are massively affected by landslides as deep cracks have begun appearing on walls. More than 3000 residents from 576 homes suffered the effects of land subsidence as all houses were surveyed by the municipality and people were forced to evacuate. In this ordeal, more than 70 houses developed crack