Kerala saw maximum landslides in 7 years: Centre
Kerala recorded the highest number of major landslides in the country in the past seven years, the ministry of earth sciences informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Kerala recorded the highest number of major landslides in the country in the past seven years, the ministry of earth sciences informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Of the 3,782 landslides between 2015 and 2022 so far, 2,239 alone were reported in the southern state. This was followed by West Bengal that recorded 376 landslides, Jitendra Singh, minister for earth science and science and technology, informed the House.
Singh shared the data in a written statement while responding to a question by BJP MPs Manoj Rajoria and Sumedhanand Saraswati on whether the Union government is paying any attention to increasing incidents of landslides in the country in recent past and the reasons behind the rise.
Post disaster investigations revealed that the landslides were mostly triggered by unprecedented high rainfall in the affected areas. Besides this, terrain character, slope forming material, geomorphology, land use and land-cover in different terrains were reasons behind the disaster. Anthropogenic causes such as unprotected slope cuts and blocking of drainage were also among the causes, the minister said.
Kerala witnessed devastating floods in 2018, 2019 and 2021 that together left at least 600 people dead, besides wiping out thousands of habitations.
According to a response by the home ministry in Lok Sabha on July 26, 422 people were killed between 2019-20 and 2022 in Kerala due to hydrometeorological disasters. The overall toll in the country stood at 7,102 for the same period.
For the past 30 years, June and July rainfall in the state has been witnessing a decreasing trend and August and September rainfall an increasing trend, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The highest number of field validated landslides, analysed as part of national landslide susceptibility mapping (NLSM) by Geological Survey of India, was recorded in Himachal Pradesh (6,420), followed by Uttarakhand (4 927) and Kerala (3,016 ).
“Field validated landslides are nothing but landslides that may have occurred earlier but have been validated by us. This does show that some hilly states are most vulnerable but we have to understand that we may not have validated landslides that occurred in say remote regions of Arunachal Pradesh. Yes, the number of landslides taking place are increasing but it is also true that reporting such incidents are also on the rise,” a senior GSI official said on condition of anonymity.
