Surekha Dangwal

Recent landslides in Uttarakhand - Nature’s fury or human folly – A paper in Current Science

This paper in Current Science deals with the recent landslides in the hill slopes in the Uttarakhand Himalayas, which are known for their instability due to ongoing tectonic activity.

Naresh Rana

S P Sati

Y P Sundriyal

Posted on 21 Jun, 2011 10:22 PM

However, increasing anthropogenic intervention in the recent times appears to be contributing to terrain instability in addition to natural factors, as observed by increasing frequency and magnitude of landslides since 1970.

During August and September 2010, Uttarakhand Himalaya witnessed large-scale slope destabilization, particularly along the roads where widening work was in progress leading to huge damage. The cause of regional-scale landslides has been attributed to exceptionally high rainfall in the region during September. When the average rainfall for the month of August and September from 2000 to 2009 is compared with rainfall data of the same period of 2010, it was found that in September 2010, 336 per cent higher rainfall was received by the area. However, the question that arises is: was it unusual rainfall-induced calamity or a result of human intervention?

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