Farmer Shiv Lal barely slept this week, overcome by worry about the deep cracks scarring his land and hundreds of other homes and buildings in a sinking town in India’s Himalayas.
On January 2 and 3, Lal and other residents of Joshimath in northern Uttarakhand state woke to find large cracks running through their walls and floors. Outside, roads and walkways had caved in and cracked as the land beneath them shifted.
