Aug2008 - yet another peaceful month

As I had blogged earlier, July 2008 turned out to be a very peaceful month.. a little deficient rain and no major landslides ....
And so it turned out in Aug2008; less than normal rainfall, no major landslides and no known deaths. Placed below is the rainfall data for Aug 2007 and 2008:-


Total rainfall (Aug2007) :- 506mm
Total rainfall (Aug2008) :- 597mm

Monthly average rainfall for AUG (10 years average) :- 647mm
(from http://wbagrimarketingboard.gov.in/Area/Rain.html)

Technically, September is a month when the monsoons recede and rainfall diminishes - let's hope that is true but just as a reminder how horribly wrong things can go wrong with weather these days....
The recent floods in Bihar were a result of excessive rain ie it because it rained a full 500% more than the monthly average rain (source CNN). Imagine that!!!

praful rao

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My thanks to Compuset, Darjeeling for the rainfall data

And so life goes on...

‘Maybe the department is waiting for heavy casualties
Rangpo locals living under a shadow of fear

Our Correspondent
RANGPO: Around 130 families of Lower Jitlang and Majhua villages along the NH 31 A at Rangpo are living under fear ever since the monsoons started this year. The two areas have been already left vulnerable due to slides that occurred 3 years back.
The commencement of monsoons has seen further degradation of the slushy areas in the area triggering panic among the residents.
Lower Jitlang is situated on the upper side of the slides where around 50 families are staying. The lower part of the slides falls near NH 31 A at Majhua village with around 80 families.
Both the areas have come under danger zone, the residents say. We are not sure what will happen to us and our houses in the next heavy rainfall, they say with concern.
A few days ago, a big boulder slide down into a house in this area. Fortunately, no one was injured but the house was damaged.
A local Prem Basnett said that they have submitted memorandums to the concerned department last year itself but no response has come so far. No departmental officers have come to visit these areas, he said.
Maybe the department is waiting for heavy casualties, the locals said. They have demanded immediate response from the concerned department before calamity strikes.

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Article from "Sikkim Express - 02Sep2007"

From the days papers...

Early Warning System

Scientists have devised a landslide prediction system that is set to take off in the hottest tourist spot in kerala. T.V. Jayan reports

The hills around St Antony’s Colony in Munnar will have nine sets of wireless sensors, and (below) Joshua Freeman demonstrates one Hridayadas Mohan is filled with awe and admiration whenever he sees those little “honeybee boxes” atop the hill that forms a backdrop to his house in the picturesque Munnar town in Idukki district. Mohan believes the tiny structures, covered by hoods for protection against the sun and the rain, offer a good chance to the 3,000-odd residents of St Antony’s Colony against Nature’s fury. Landslides, a common feature in this most popular tourist spot in Kerala, are a bane for the people living in the area. The last human casualty may have occurred three years ago, but every year the district witnesses a number of landslips that bring down tonnes of mud and rocks, causing untold misery. “People here live in constant fear,” says Mohan, a community worker belonging to the predominantly Tamil-speaking population that moved there centuries ago to work in the tea plantations. An abandoned government college and a partially damaged temple bear testimony to this fact. The frequency with which landslides ravage Munnar brought Maneesha Ramesh and her colleagues at Amrita School of Engineering (ASE), near Quilon, to the sleepy town. Together with several European universities and firms, they are installing a network of wireless sensors that can pick up the slightest of rumblings in the earth in order to alert the people to an impending landslide in real time. “If we can pick up the right signals, we stand a good chance of informing the people about any threat days in advance,” says Maneesha. The scientists have deployed a number of wireless sensors in and around St Antony’s Colony. They are buried a couple of metres into the soil and can measure the moisture content, pressure, vibration of the earth and several other geological parameters. The data are subsequently relayed via a satellite to a simulation lab on the ASE campus some 200km away. The researchers are using the information to simulate the behaviour of the soil in Munnar. “We got tonnes of soil from Munnar for creating the facility as soil properties vary from place to place,” says A. Kailash, a team member. They are even inducing rainy conditions using artificial precipitation and subjecting the soil to vibration through mechanical means. “Landslide prediction is a complex science, but we expect to get a handle on it,” says Joshua Freeman, a US engineer who is on the ASE faculty and has been instrumental in setting up the simulation studies. Freeman thinks it is important to weed out false alarms as that would lead to people losing faith in the system. While the Amrita researchers are involved in the simulation studies and actual deployment of the sensor network, nine European institutions — including the University of Rome, the University Polytechnic of Catalonia in Spain and Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland — are handling the design and fabrication of the sensors. The project, called Winsoc (Wireless Sensor Network with Self-Organisation Capabilities), seeks to mimic biological systems. “Living systems are intrinsically robust against cells dying or being damaged,” says Sergio Barbarossa of the University of Rome, the overall coordinator for the Winsoc project. “The behaviour of most organs is an interesting feature, resulting from the interactions of many cells, where no one cell is particularly robust or even aware of the whole behaviour.” A good example of this, he says, is the rhythm of the heart, which is controlled by the interaction of several thousand pacemaker cells, each of which can be seen as a pulse oscillator. Even though the individual oscillators are not particularly stable or reliable, the heart as a whole is extremely stable and can readily adapt to changing conditions. “This sets Winsoc apart from earlier similar attempts,” says Maneesha. While the sensor network is based on many individual censors, it acts as a single, coherent system. The network is self-organising because even if a few censors are damaged, the others take over their task. Sensors are bound to fail as they work under the harshest of conditions. With the European partners shipping in the wireless sensors soon, the Munnar landslide prediction project is all set to take off. For the time being, the Amrita researchers are using sensors procured from elsewhere. “We hope the network to be ready by the next rainy season,” says Maneesha. They also intend to install similar systems in other parts of the district. The consortium is planning to use the self-organising wireless network for other natural disasters as well. For instance, a team of researchers from the Centre for Science and Society in the Czech Republic is readying such a system for advance detection of forest fires. The ASE researchers may still be months away from successfully operating a landslide warning system, but the inhabitants of St Antony’s Colony are already confident of its usefulness. The people, who normally move to safer places whenever there is a heavy downpour, did not shift out of their homes this monsoon as they were hopeful of getting advance information about any devastating event.

Phases of disillusionment..

Till date I have attended two national level meetings on disaster management where much was trumpeted about the "paradigm shift" from a "relief-centric approach" in disaster management to one based on "prevention, preparedness and mitigation".

STH is a year old now and after almost one year of badgering on doors of National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA), State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), the media and the powers that be for some sort of landslide preventive/mitigation measures to be implemented in these hills, I am convinced that the "paradigm shift" has only taken place in the rarefied atmosphere of air-conditioned offices of Centaur Hotel, Delhi where the (NDMA) is based.

Nothing has changed at the ground level and despite the "paradigm shift", our only landslide prevention/mitigation weapon till date remains fervent prayers in our churches/ gompas/ temples and mosques.

What a pity!

Placed below are excerpts from Rediff.com (link is here) and some comments by Rediff readers which echo my thoughts:-

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'Tsunami of Bihar' could have been avoided

Sheela Bhatt

August 29, 2008 20:53 IST
Last Updated: August 30, 2008 14:43 IST

"These are not floods. This is worse than Tsunami [Images]," says Janta Dal-United President Sharad Yadav while talking to media persons about the devastation caused by the Kosi river, which flows from Nepal into India.

…People, who have visited the affected areas, are amazed by the flooding in the most unexpected areas.

"Normally, residents of northern Bihar are prepared for Kosi's fury. Boats are available in villages. When rains come, people keep few assets in houses. But this time, after some 125 years, Kosi entered new areas. Nobody was expecting Kosi to maroon them," says Sanjay Jha, resident of Patna.

Preventive measures not taken

It is shocking story of chalta hai (take it easy) attitude of the state and central government that has caused such misery to the people of Bihar.

By all accounts, Kosi has not fully flooded yet, says a source in Kathmandu who has visited the area. If more rains hit the area in September then, the situation will be more dangerous than it is now.

Right now, the flooding is due to a break in some part of the embankment on the Nepal side that has rushed in waters into India and displaced 50,000 Nepalis and more than 2 million Biharis.

"There seems to be slackness on both sides. It seems that even the mandatory repair work was not done," says Yubraj Ghimire, senior journalist, from Kathmandu.

"If the government of Bihar had conducted regular repair work in the dry season, this calamity could have been averted," says Indian source in Kathmandu.

Kosi's catchment area is massive and the river carries one of the highest amounts of slit in the world. As a result, Nepal is unable to benefit as expected in power generation.

"Nepali government should have been more helpful in helping repairs before August 18," says an Indian officer in Kathmandu.
Unfortunately, Bihar government officials associated with the project informed the Indian embassy in Kathmandu only on August 18 of the difficulties faced by them. By that time it was too late and Kosi had changed its course to wreck entire the north-east part of 'Mithilanchal'.

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comments by rediff readers

Prevention is the ONLY cure
by DV Nayak on Aug 30, 2008 11:56 PM Permalink | Hide replies

I think that is what we, the people, need to realise about disasters like this.
Either you prevent it or you face the consequences.
You CANNOT CURE it.
***
Blame game
by Ganesh on Aug 30, 2008 10:57 AM Permalink | Hide replies

Blame game is on. When CM made a statement on 17th August, center did not respond. The relief has been announced only on the day , PM visited Bihar. These guys play while public suffers. If everyone knows that Kosi swells ever year why can't canals be built to supply water to the other parts of the country like MP, North Maharstra etc.

***
The same old story.....
by Junaid Badshah on Aug 30, 2008 10:11 AM Permalink | Hide replies

Its the same old story again. The sufferers are the common people. I have personally endures during the floods in Surat..the last one being in 2006. To garner the votebank and to hog the limelight, a few relief packages were dropped by the army helicopters but is that enough? Its the same old story everywhere....there should have been enough precautions taken by the govt. in advance to avoid...why dont we learn our lessons even when the calamities are repeated time and again .... in different parts of the country..?? The condition at Ground Zero is much worse than shown by the media...the media does glorify the pain .. but actually its much much more....
Why doesnt the govts (central & state) act in a proactive manner anytime?? The Rs.1000 Crore relief now shouted out by the prime minister ... would this actually reach the affected people?? or will it find its way into the pockets of the babus--like its been for ages??
Change is whats needed now...else it will be too late....

***

For God's sake, set some accountability for Govt. bodies.....
by SS Kumar on Aug 30, 2008 09:42 AM Permalink | Hide replies

If the Indian Government means business, it should give marching orders to the members of the Disaster Management Council of India for dereliction of duty in Bihar. They were either virtually sleeping or had not done their home- work well in time. It is high time we had accountability standards established in India
instead of the "Sab Chalta Hai" attitude. Clearly, their dereliction of duty has result- ed in avoidable loss of several precious lives.
It should be as punishable as a motorist running over pedestrians. By punishing them, the GOI can show other government departments that it means business and will not tolerate lame excuses.
________________________________________

praful rao

Latest photos from NHPC stage III Lo-dam (27th Mile, Kalimpong) - 28Aug08

Slide 1 - Huge cracks on the massive concrete retaining walls. There is no doubt these cracks are getting larger each day -this area is directly above the NHPC dam power house shown in slide 2.

Slide 2 - The power house area of the dam which lies directly below the cracked portion. It is apparent that work in area is causing the landslide from above.

Slide 3 - Portion of National Highway (NH) 31A just above the dam site. NH31A has a high density of heavy traffic plying between Sikkim/Kalimpong and Siliguri. The entire hill (encircled) is getting pulled down in the direction shown.

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comment by praful rao

I took these photos on 28Aug08 while on my way to Siliguri. I had visited this area just 5 days earlier, yet even in this short span of time the cracks on the retaining walls only seemed to have become wider. Unfortunately, the lay people whom I met around there, one, a villager from a hamlet above, and another ,a security guard of the dam, shared my feelings - that the hill would not survive for long.

Chapter 22.1.2 (on the Darjiling Himalayas)

Placed below are excerpts from the W. Bengal Govt website on environment. The link is here

" The Darjiling Hill Region of West Bengal, comprising of the Darjiling, Kurseong, Kalimpong subdivisions of the Darjiling district covers an area of 2325.31 sq.km, which is about 73.8% of the total area of the Darjiling district and supports a resident population of 684818 i.e. 52.7% of the total population of the district. Being a part of the eastern Himalayan ecosystem it possesses all the attributes of eco-fragile Himalayan system i.e. weak geological formation, arrested succession, depreciation of vegetation etc. Besides, Darjiling Himalayas have a number of landslide zones, which further reinstates its status as an eco-fragile region.

In the absence of any major scope for industrial development except in the primary sector and in the face of stagnation of tea industry, it is obvious that the economic development of this area now depends on tourism to a great extent. But the growth of tourism has also ushered in unplanned urbanisation, illegal construction activities, large scale deforestation etc. The impact of anthropogenic interference is widest in the ever increasing incidences of landslides, choking of drainage channels and consequent soil erosion as well as water scarcity, destruction of ecological heritage etc.

The environmental impact of this demographic pressure is noted. The solid waste generated is estimated at 20 MT per day, while present infrastructure can cope up with only 5 mld. The sewerage system is reportedly connected with 5 septic tanks, of which two large tanks set up to handle 70% of sewage remains non functional. The solid waste is passed down the hill slope.

The municipal services remain ineffective with a critical profile of basic sanitation. Enteric diseases during monsoon season is well spread. Added to this, extensive urbanisation in the declared sinking zone (e.g. Alubari), landslips due to improper drainage, natural calamity, intensity of which are becoming more frequent after 1968 as the records of 1980, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1997 bear testimony.

Construction activities are being carried out in the hill regions either illegally or with total disregard to building rules. Marginalised section of population have constructed shanties on unstable slopes and also on jhoras. These are likely to accentuate landslide activities in future. Besides, open defective drains leading into the jhoras and decomposing of garbage has lead to contamination of water. Due to mixing of garbage and sewage water with water sources, coliform bacteria abundant in water supply causing health hazards, specially in the human population along downstream area.

The West Bengal Government has recently set up a committee (under the agency of Ministry of Urban Affairs) to review the linkage between landslide occurrences and unplanned construction activities. Among the recommendations of the committee’s report which is being drafted at present, the two most important are :

• Fixing Building heights at 11.5 m (G + 3 floor level)

• Making construction of soakpits compulsory
  

A comprehensive hill area environment management plan is however yet to materialise."

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comment by praful rao
I hate to say that much of what is stated above is true. The question is :-

What do we do?


(Italics in the above report are mine)

A damned dam ... 24Aug2008

Two NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) Low - dams have come under media scrutiny recently (see extract of 17Aug2008 Telegraph below):-
I have placed 4 captioned photos from my visits to the NHPC Stage III, lo -dam at 27th mile area after the media reports -
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Morcha (Political Party) strikes at low dam sites for road

OUR CORRESPONDENT

A Teesta Low dam Project site near Kalimpong Darjeeling, Aug. 17: The Rs 2,000 crore Teesta low dam scheme of the NHPC has once again run into rough weather with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha calling an indefinite strike at the project sites from tomorrow. The Morcha is demanding the immediate construction of an alternative route along a stretch of the Takdha-Teesta road that has allegedly been damaged by the ongoing project. Narbuji Lama, the president of the Morcha’s Teesta-Takdha Valley Committee, today said: “We have taken permission from party president Bimal Gurung for the strike. The NHPC had promised us that the road would be built but work has not yet started.” “Earlier, we did not have frequent landslides but ever since the construction started a few years ago, this has been a recurring problem. Even this morning about 30-40 vehicles were stranded for five to six hours because a jeep broke down on that potholed stretch,” said Lama. He added that the road was the lifeline to the 80,000 residents of the Takdah valley. The Takdha-Teesta road connects the valley to NH31A and most people prefer to go to Siliguri rather than Darjeeling for their daily chores as the plains town is closer. The Morcha wants the alternative route to bypass the landslide-prone area and connect Deorali Gaon to Rambi Bazaar. S. Khatua, the chief engineer of Teesta Low Dam Project-III, has condemned the “culture of bandh”. “I have not yet heard about the strike but it is time everyone realised that shutdowns are never solutions to any problem. The culture of bandh does not help anyone,” said Khatua. In June, too, the Morcha had called for an indefinite strike at the project sites. The strike had lasted for three-four days. The TLD-III is a Rs 768.92 crore project (according to a December 2002 pricing) while Stage IV entails a cost of Rs 1061.38 crore. Both the projects are coming up in the Rambi-Kalijhora area, about 20km downstream of Teesta Baazar in Kalimpong sub-division. The two projects combined is one of the biggest in the region as TLD-III is expected to have a capacity of 132 MW while TLD-IV is expected to produce 160 MW. “The TLDP-III was set to be completed in September 2009 but this has been extended to December because of the recent spate of strikes. The TLDP-IV is likely to be completed in December 2010,” said Khatua. Even though the 2002 pricing of TLDP-III was pegged at around 700 crore, sources said it has already touched the 1,000 crore mark. Khatua, however, said the the company was willing to finance the construction of an alternative route. “The land belongs to the forest department and we have already approached the authorities for transfer of land. The process does take long and a road cannot be built overnight,” he said. The NHPC wants the Morcha leaders to help them expedite the transfer of land. “If the leaders can play a part in expediting the transfer of land, instead of calling a strike, it would be more useful,” Khatua said. Lama, however, said the onus of transferring the land was on the NHPC. “If they could acquire such a big area for the project, they can easily do so for the road,” said Lama.

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Comment by praful rao
This year we have been fortunate thus far...
except for Jun08 when we had heavy rain , the monsoons have been kind to us...
so on 24Aug2008 when I visited the NHPC dam stage III, I was happy..many of the areas seemed to be holding on, as if to disprove my gloomy predictions!!!
All, except for the horrible portion directly above the power house area...
which is going, going gone...
mark my words!
and hence the title of this blog ( A damned...)

Information regarding landslide prevention which we seek...

The world over, the mantra being chanted in Disaster Management circles is "prevention, mitigation and preparedness" with the old, post-disaster "relief-centric" approach being rightfully relegated to the dust bin.

Not so in West Bengal(W.B) state, India.

So two junior "Relief Officers" from the W.B State Govt's Disaster Management department attended the National level conference on landslides in Kolkata on the 16Jul2008 (refer post of 19Jul2008) and the Govt of W.B website on Disaster Management says it all (refer post of 28Jul2008) as regards landslide prevention and mitigation.

This attitude must change and fortunately the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 - which mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information - gives us just this weapon to bring about a change in thinking.

Yesterday, I put up an RTI application for information regarding prevention and mitigation of landslide hazards in our area to the District Magistrate who heads the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) for Darjeeling district.

The same is reproduced below.



This is the first one....

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comment by praful rao

My thanks to friends in the STH mailing list who helped me in putting up this RTI application

Landslides in Sikkim -16Aug2008

Landslide renders eight families homeless at Marchak

DIKCHU, 17 Aug: A ferocious landslide which struck in the morning of
16 August at Marchak, about six kilometers short of Dikchu from
Singtam, has left eight families homeless. Their houses have suffered
major damages and the terrain remains unstable. The residents have
been shifted to safer locations while the main affected have been
shifted to a nearby school.
The devastation caused by the landslide is evident here, with damaged
houses, a blocked highway [reopened since], dead livestock and
homeless residents trying to retrieve whatever was left for them to
salvage from the rubble. Villagers clutching to their valuables,
sitting on the roadside next to utensils recovered from the rubble,
stared blankly while others shifted beds and cupboards [from houses
under threat] to the nearby school.
The landslide rolled down from around 300 meters uphill, starting from
Yan village in Tintek Block, and totaled houses in its path and
killing livestock when it struck at around 5 AM in the morning.
Rural Sikkim rises early and this saved their lives on Saturday.
"We had just woken up and were in the process of going about our daily
chores when we heard a loud bang like that of gelatin stick blasting
which the NHPC used to carry out in the area. When we came out of our
houses and saw that the hill above was shrouded in a heavy cloud of
dust and debris, we knew that our worst fears had come true. Suddenly,
we heard shouts that a land slide had broken loose and we ran for
safety. Big rocks and debris then came rolling down in full force with
great noise and took away house and destroyed our 'goth' killing
cattle and livestock. The timing was such that no human lives were
lost and we are thankful to god for that," said Arjun Rai, who has
lost a part of his house and was busy shifting his belongings to the
nearby Marchak School where the district administration had set up an
emergency relief camp.
Showing NOW! the place where a relative, Durga Bahadur Rai's house
once stood, Indra Kumari Rai expresses bewilderment at how they
escaped harm. She, along with her family, had taken refuge in the same
house the previous night thinking it to be 'safer' than her own house.
"Our house was just below the mud-slides which had been slipping every
now and then during heavy rains. When the downpour got heavier last
night, we decided to sleep over at our relative's [Durga Bahadur]
house which we thought was safe enough. This slide has taken the same
house. It is frightening to even imagine what would have happened if
the slide had come down at night, or, for that matter, even later in
the day. There are small children everywhere, and the timing of the
slide was such as no one was running around, we just clutched them and
ran for safety," she recounted.
The slide also blocked the Singtam-Dikchu Highway for an entire day
and was cleared by the GREF by this morning. The huge boulders which
had fallen on the road had to be 'blasted'.
Some of the locals like Indra Kumari Rai have also complained of
inefficient and unplanned blasting which had further damaged their
property which is just below the main slide zone.
"The GREF blasting shot up rocks which have further damaged my kitchen
which is just next to the washed away house. We have complained to the
district administration and they have asked me to complain to the
GREF, I have told the officer here but I have been busy shifting our
belongings to the Marchak School. Every thing is unstable and we are
moving all our belongings and whatever is left. We shall be living in
the school today, but again, the officers have asked us to move out to
another location by tomorrow [Sunday] as the school reopens on Monday.
We are in dilemma, let's see what happens", says Ms. Rai.
The residents have also now become more vocal in expressing their
concerns over the stability of the area and contend that the frequent
slides are being caused by 'irresponsible' blasting conducted by the
NHPC during the construction of the tunnel for Stage V which runs from
Aap Dara near Dikchu to Balutar near Singtam.
"Land along the tunnel stretch towards Singtam and Dikchu started
giving way ever since the blastings commenced. The entire hill has
become unstable," states Durga Bahadur Rai who has lost his entire
house to the slide, along with two cows and two pigs. It was his house
where Indra Kumari Rai and Arjun Rai's families of around 18,
including children, had taken refuge in the previous night.
The first to reach the spot as per the locals were personnel from the
Dikchu Police Out-Post, including the OC and the Second In-charge,
who, with the help of locals, started immediate relief work. By
afternoon, large numbers of locals from the neighboring villages had
gathered at the spot to help in the evacuation process.
Area MLA Norzang Lepcha, accompanied by the SDM [Gangtok] AB Karki and
BDO, Rakdong-Tintek, Tenzing D Denzongpa also arrived for verification
and released ex-gratia relief to the affected families.
Durga Bahadur Rai was given Rs. 10,000 as his house has been totally
damaged while the others affected like Indra Kumari Rai, Kamal Kumar
Chettri and Laxmi Prasad Bhattarai who has also lost two of his cows
were provided with Rs. 2,000 each. The eight families who have been
shifted received Rs. 1,500 each.
After inspection, the affected familes were shifted to private
structure under construction in the area where the relief camp will
move after Sunday so that the school can reopen on Monday.
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Comment by praful rao

Landslides do not respect political boundaries and even though Sikkim is a separate state, it is a part of a contiguous geographic region.
I am extremely glad that STH has become a platform from where we can let the world know about a hazard which recurs every year with unfailing regularity and threatens to engulf large parts of our populated areas in the years ahead.
Climate change and global warming together with a host of anthropogenic factors makes it imperative for us to work cohesively and concertedly towards combating this hazard.

My thanks to
a) Ms Mita Zulka and
b) 'NOW' newspaper of Sikkim
for the above report and photographs.

Almost one year later....

Bhalukhop





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Soureni






Almost a year ago, following the Sep07 rains I visited many areas in the vicinity of Kalimpong where landslides had caused havoc.

This year, till date we have been lucky ; Jul2008 rainfall data showed that we had received just half the rain of Jul2007.
And August 2008 also seems to be holding out pretty well..
or is it?
The rainfall data of two days is placed below:-

Rain fall data:-
15Aug2008- 29mm
16Aug2008- 47 mm

Yesterday, after almost a year, I visited two landslide areas close to my home, several hours after the rains had stopped. At both places, the slides were still active and one could hear the now familiar rumble as loose rocks and mud crashed into the rivulet (jhora) below.

At Bhalukhop, I was, therefore, rather surprised when I saw an elderly lady (slide1) and her granddaughter deftly negotiate (slide 2) a rain gorged rivulet and landslide.... when she came over to me, she complained that road to her home had been washed away by the jhora (slide3) and that now she had to take this lengthy detour and then with absolute certainty and equanimity she also told me the ground where we stood would also "go" in the days ahead...

At Soureni, I met a village lady (slide 4) who informed me that a new slide (slide5) had opened up next to her home at 4.30AM that day. She said in Sep07 (slide6), the slides had destroyed all her arable land and that she and her husband had to support their children by working as laborers (coolies). The govt had paid her Rs2000/- (approx $45) for the land loss.

Here are some points worth noting :-
a) In Jun2008 slightly higher than average rain caused major problems (refer posts of 24, 29 and 30Jun2008).
b) In Jul2008, we had less than normal rainfall (200mm short) so no landslide incident took place.
c) In Aug2008, just two days of slightly heavy rain caused activation of the above slides and I am very sure many other landslides in the district which we will never come to know of-

since landslides, like mountains and momos have been a part of our lives for a long time now..
today,
we take this hazard for granted!

What we ought to remind ourselves is that,
whereas hazards maybe natural,
disasters are not,
and landslide disasters especially, are to a large extent preventable.

(Both Soureni (refer post of 27Sep07) and Bhalukhop (refer post of 07Apr08) have been featured in STH earlier.)

praful rao