Friday, July 17, 2015

Landslides in Kalimpong - A pictoral report (July2015)


On 30Jun/01July2015 torrential rains lashed Kalimpong dumping 227mm of rain in a 8hr period. This triggered numerous landslides both within the municipal limits and in the sub-division. STH did a survey of some of the affected areas which are indicated on the map above. Images from the areas are placed below.

As per the GSI, the Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya is one of the most landslide prone areas in the country and as per Dr David Petley, this area also is one of the global hotspots for fatal landslides.
SaveTheHills (STH) has, in this blog, over the years tried to maintain a historical record of this disaster form which has not received due recognition the world over so as to offer undeniable proof of a scourge which is growing worse in this region as human interference in the mountains increases.
In July2015, after 3 yrs of low landslide activity, we are witnessing a spurt in the number of landslides in Darjeeling district (esp in Kalimpong and Mirik) due to erratic and intense rainfall.
Rainfall records for Kalimpong and this region are placed here ( 1 and 2 ).
What is also clear is almost all the fatalities especially in urban or semi-urban settings are the result of poor or non-existent drainage.
While we have tried to cover many areas of the sub-division in our survey, large areas remain uncharted due to lack of resources and what is shown above is only the tip of the iceberg. (Major landslide areas south of the river Relli have not been included in our survey.)
GPS co-ordinates of all landslide listed are placed below:-






Placemark  Latitude
Longitude
1
 27° 4'40.69"N  88°28'57.54"E
2
 27° 4'57.11"N  88°29'13.31"E
3
 27° 5'6.11"N  88°29'24.97"E
4
 27° 4'23.12"N  88°27'17.35"E
5
 27° 3'28.51"N  88°26'45.02"E
6
 27° 3'59.18"N  88°28'25.21"E
7
 27° 2'50.46"N  88°28'52.10"E
8
 27° 4'23.45"N  88°29'18.64"E
9
 27° 3'4.14"N  88°26'33.45"E
10
 27° 4'8.12"N  88°29'38.10"E
11
 27° 2'42.50"N  88°39'4.80"E
12
 27° 5'13.50"N  88°39'41.10"E
13
 27° 5'59.00"N  88°40'56.60"E
14
 27° 6'16.50"N  88°40'48.40"E
15
 27° 4'10.20"N  88°38'1.70"E
16
 26°57'42.60"N 88°41'56.00"E
17
 27° 3'8.72"N  88°39'19.75"E
18
 27° 9'34.50"N  88°38'12.50"E







Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks. What triggers these landslides is still a subject of study. May be earthquake leading to instability of soil particles, may be heavy rainfall,may be congestion of major and minor jhoras, drains etc... building rules have to be framed and enforced strictly to avoid future distresses....spots to be identified to install TWS or Oscillatory for early warning...