The various mountain and hill ranges of India and other parts of South Asia, for instance, have long been plagued by landslides. In recent years, floods in Kerala during the monsoon have caused landslides in the hilly areas, leading to death and destruction. Involvement of hill people in drawing up preventive measures and contingency plans will prove very effective, feels Bharat Dogra
The recent massive landslide in a once-bustling village in Enga province of Papua New Guinea was one of the worst tragedies of its kind. While UN officials have estimated about 670 deaths resulting from this disaster, later reports mentioned 2000 people being buried and the possibilities of deaths being higher than earlier estimates. What is already evident is that when rescue efforts with proper equipment are delayed, the chances of survival of people buried under rubble for over 24 hours start diminishing rapidly, although miracles are known to happen. By all accounts it was a very vulnerable area, but it appears that adequate rescue preparations, including equipment, were not available nearby. This emphasises the need for more decentralised preparations in vulnerable areas for meeting rescue needs.
This draws attention to another important aspect of the disaster — that it occurred in a conflict zone where significant incidents of sectarian violence took place in the recent past. On the one hand, this distracts attention from priorities such as better preparation for disaster preparedness. On the other hand, conditions of conflict make it difficult to rush relief to the affected area as early as possible. In the present case, security had to be arranged for some rescue convoys. The huge disaster has also focused attention on the increasing harm from landslides and related disasters worldwide. The various mountain and hill ranges of India and other parts of South Asia, for instance, have long been plagued by landslides.
A landslide last year in Irshalwadi Village of Raigad District, about 65 km from Mumbai, caused almost the entire settlement of around 48 houses to be wiped out. The remote village is so difficult to approach that even well-trained rescue teams had difficulty in reaching the area battered by heavy rains. Bringing in heavy machines for removing debris and rescuing people was even more challenging. When rescue work was finally called off after an almost four-day-long high-risk operation, 27 bodies had been recovered while about 60 people were still missing, feared dead. This tragedy could have been averted if people had been able, with government help, to shift to safer locations, or if appropriate steps to protect the crumbling hills had been taken in time.
In two other such tragedies in recent years in the Western Ghats region of Maharashtra, 80 to 110 deaths were reported. Many landslides are being caused by man-made factors, and adequate precautions can help prevent them. Indiscriminate construction or mining activities are responsible for many landslides in the Himalayan region. In 2022, such a mishap in Manipur claimed 47 lives, and several others remain missing. A 2021 landslip in Nigulsari area of Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh) resulted in 28 deaths and injuries to at least 14 people. In the last week of July 2021, over a 100 deaths were reported in landslides in Maharashtra, Western Ghats and the Himalayan Region.
Smaller landslides can also lead to loss of housing or habitation. About 12 per cent of the total land area in India is hilly and, as such, exposed to landslides. When flash floods are added to the mix, the destruction escalates. Landslides also increase the possibility of road accidents. Two important facts have been emerging from several recent landslide disasters – one is the link with heavy construction activity. (The Manipur disaster was reported from an area where a railway project was being constructed and safety precautions had been neglected.) The second and related aspect is that workers employed in construction projects in hilly areas are more exposed to landslides, particularly migrant workers from plains who are not used to living and working in landslide zones.

Courtesy: Malayala Manorama/ Photo: Reju Arnold
The tragedies at Ramban on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway in 2022 and the one at the Tehri Project site in Uttarakhand in 2024 are cases in point. At the Tehri project site, the micro-silica treatment had not yet taken place and P.C. Navani, a senior geologist, had commented then that work in the unlined area should have been avoided at all costs in the rainy season. Hence, improving safety conditions in all big construction projects in hilly areas need to be given much more consideration. Indiscriminate deforestation and tree-cutting as well as excessive mining and quarrying in fragile zones are other factors responsible for the rise in landslides.
While poor people who cannot afford houses in more secure areas sometimes agree to settle in the more risky, landslip-prone areas, increasing their vulnerability to disaster, others are driven more by greed than need, and there are several examples of rich persons indulging in over-construction, increasing the burden on fragile hills. Hotels are constructed in hill stations by private players, and sometimes even government agencies are at fault. Land use in hills has to be even more carefully regulated than in the plains.
On the plus side, research and technology have helped improve protection. However, protective steps often fail to get adequate support and funding. Identifying habitations which have become too unsafe due to the high possibility of landslides is also important. Such rehabilitation should be done without delay. The issue of landslides thus needs a multifaceted response as opposed to mere reaction. Hill-people well understand the seriousness of the increasing risk and if a comprehensive programme is taken up with their participation to reduce the possibility of, and harm from, landslides, good results can be achieved.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist and author who has been associated with several social movements and initiatives. He lives in Delhi.)
Note from the editor: Although the above article focuses on landslides in the north of India, Kerala in the south especially has been prone to landslides in recent years. Here is a short extract from an article by Normal Jovial that appeared in The Week in 2020, about why landslides continue to wreck havoc in Kerala:
August 6, 2020, was a dark day for Munnar town in Kerala. A landslide struck Pettimudi Village at Rajamalai, killing over 80, most of who were plantation workers. Two years later, on the same day, another similar incident was averted by sheer luck. Another massive landslide, which could have killed hundreds in Kundla Estate, got stuck on the Munnar-Vattavada route, after submerging a temple and two shops. No human casualty was reported; 175 families were shifted to a relief camp in the Pudukkudi division. Experts say that except the coastal district of Alappuzha, all the other 13 are prone to landslides. And, about 8 per cent (1,400 sq km.) of the area in the Western Ghats in Kerala is classified as critical zone for mass movements such as debris flow, landslides, slumps and rock falls. Debris flow is the most prevalent and hazardous type of mass movement in Kerala.