From the Newspapers today (27Nov2010). DARJEELING: Illegal urban construction posing natural disaster threat to Darjeeling

Frymal village, Darjeeling (Cyclone Aila May2009)

FROM DAILYINDIA.COM

Darjeeling (West Bengal), Nov.27 (ANI) : The massive construction of high-rise buildings, a majority of them illegal, has led to a degradation of the soil texture in the Darjeeling Hills area of West Bengal state, and has made the place vulnerable to landslides, feel experts.

A series of landslides has hit Darjeeling and its surrounding areas since May 2009, triggered off by overnight rains and floods.

Local builders seem to have ignored this threat and public concern.

Talking to media persons about the problem, West Bengal Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Ashok Narayan Bhattacharya said the state government has asked the local civic body to take measures to curb illegal construction.

“There is no reason behind the illegal construction. The builders are violating the rules. There is no fear of government in Darjeeling. Nobody has been caught till now. Now, the situation is improving. The situation will only improve when the municipal authorities work together with the local people,” said Bhattacharya.

Geologists say the construction of unauthorized buildings coupled with improper drainage systems has led to landslides in the region in the past.

“Since the end of 1970s and beginning of 1980s, there has been a real estate boom in all countries, and Darjeeling is no exception. There are now innumerable high-rise buildings, and, I do not know whether a building restriction rule still exists. There is no one to look after this. I do not know how they (the builders) are getting no objection certificates for constructing eight to nine-storeyed buildings in the hills,” said Subir Sarkar, a meteorological expert.

Situated at a height of 2,134 meters, Darjeeling was developed as a hill station by the British, who wanted to escape the heat of the plains.

As time passed, Darjeeling town has emerged as a tourist destination.

- Excerpt from Himalayan Beacon of 27Nov2010

Praful Rao

Youtube resources on Landslides

STH activities : Documentary film on Landslides- 20Nov2010

Magic Lantern Foundation (MLF) is a Delhi based non-profit organization working with culture and human rights and using the medium of films and documentaries to highlight issues.
Sometime ago I was contacted by Ms Priyanka Chhabra, a young film director who is currently with MLF about doing a documentary film on "The Need for Adaptation to Climate Change" with special emphasis on the impact of climate change on landslides in Darjeeling in the state of W Bengal (the whole documentary was to be done on impacts of climate change in four states ie Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, M.P and W.B)
After doing an initial tour of landslide affected areas around Kalimpong a month ago, the MLF team was with us for the last 3 days shooting at the chosen landslide sites and documenting the experiences, helplessness of many, many anonymous landslide affected people in the vicinity of Kalimpong.

The above photo shows a part of the team shooting in the paddy fields of Sindebung village  (a badly mauled area in the underbelly of Kalimpong which has been featured in this blog numerous times)


Praful Rao

Book on Landslide Hazards of Kalimpong : Ranit Chatterjee

Ranit Chatterjee is a young,effervescent and effusive man who is now in UNDP.
He was with us (STH) at Kalimpong for almost 3 weeks in Mar2010 as a part of internship from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. While here, he associated himself with all our activities and almost became a part of the community at CHIBO (a village in a highly landslide prone area of Kalimpong) where he stayed for much of his internship here.
I am sure that the book authored by him is the outcome of this stay here and look forward to reading it, I also I look forward to more students from TISS coming over for their internship (we met them during our participation at the 1st Indian Landslide Congress, at Lucknow on the 01-02No2010).

Praful Rao

STH Stormwatch : Cyclone "JAL" in the Bay of Bengal (07Nov2010)

Even though Cyclone JAL (which is literally cooking up a storm in the Bay of Bengal) is unlikely to affect us, it is our endeavor to track all cyclones and depressions in the bay (since most of the landslides in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalayas are rain-induced).
As such this year, there have been three cyclones which formed in the Bay of Bengal starting with Cyclones LAILA (20May2010), GIRI (22Oct2010), and JAL (07Nov2010).
Luckily, none of the cyclones or depressions resulted in extreme rainfall events and consequently there were no major landslides in Darjeeling district (not so with Sikkim where landslides caused major problems especially along the highways and roads this year).

Praful Rao

STH activity update: The 1st Indian Landslide Congress, Lucknow, 01-02Nov2010

4 Members of STH (including the undersigned) attended the 1st ILC at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow on the 01-02Nov2010. While the Congress gave us an excellent opportunity to interact and learn from some of the finest minds in the field of landslide research, it also allowed us to talk about the serious landslide problem in the Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya to a national audience.

I am thankful to Dr Rakesh Avasthy and the organizers of the 1st ILC for holding this congress on a form of disaster which otherwise gets a backseat in all disaster management meetings.

Praful Rao

End of SW Monsoons (2010)

An excerpt of the email from the Flood Met Office, Jalpaiguri is placed below :-

From: Flood Meteorological office Jalpaiguri Sealpara
Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 3:46 PM
Subject: Withdrawal of South-West monsoon, 2010.

Sir,

South West Monsoon, 2010 has withdrawn from Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on 28-10-2010. As such, flood watch maintained by this office since 01-06-2010 will be discontinued with effect from 29-10-2010.

G N Raha
Meteorologist-in-Charge
Flood Meteorological Office
Jalpaiguri



Praful Rao

STH Stormwatch : Update on Cyclone GIRI

One of the objectives of STH is to monitor adverse weather phenomenon which might trigger landslides with a  view to fore warn communities. To that extent we have tracked the two cyclones (LAILA and GIRI)  and two depressions which formed in the Bay of Bengal thus far in 2010.
Placed above is an image of GIRI from the TRMM website and the projected track by JTWC (US Navy)

Praful Rao

Update on CYCLONE GIRI (25Oct2010)

Thousands of people have been left homeless by a cyclone that struck western Burma on Friday.
Cyclone Giri cut many communication links to Rakhine state, and only now is the full extent of the damage emerging.
Residents say about four-thousand people have lost their homes, and that Buddhist monks and nuns have set up relief shelters.
"Damage to property is huge. Nearly all the houses made of bamboo and thatch were completely destroyed," businessman Ko Kyaw Khin said.

- excerpt from Australia News Network

STH Stormwatch : Cyclone "GIRI" in the Bay of Bengal 21Oct2010

Excerpt from IMD report

Sub: Cyclonic storm “GIRI” over eastcentral Bay of Bengal

"The deep depression over eastcentral Bay of Bengal remained practically stationary, intensified into a cyclonic storm “GIRI” and lay centred at 1130 hrs IST of today, the 21st October 2010 over the same area near latitude 17.50N and 91.50E, about 350 km south-southwest of Sittwe (Myanmar), 450 km south of Cox Bazar (Bangladesh) and 650 km southeast of Digha (West Bengal, India).
The current environmental conditions and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models suggest that the system would intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm. It would move northwards initially and then north-northeastwards and cross north Myanmar and adjoining Bangladesh coasts by tomorrow, the 22nd October 2010 evening between Teknaf (Bangladesh) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar) near Sittwe (Myanmar)."

Praful Rao

Italics are mine

STH Stormwatch : Another depression forms in the Bay of Bengal (21Oct2010)

Whereas the India Meteorological Dept (IMD) in its End of Monsoon Season 2010 report states that "2010 has been the only year in the recorded history after 2002, to have no depressions during the entire season", two depressions have brewed up in quick succession in the Bay of Bengal in as many weeks in mid Oct2010.
Placed above are the IR image  and position of the depression in the bay at 0800h as on 21Oct2010.
As per the IMD,
"the current environmental conditions and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models suggest that the system would intensify further into a deep depression. It would move initially northwards and then north-northeastwards towards north Myanmar and south Bangladesh coasts during next 48 hours."
STH will post updates on the system on this blog as and when necessary.

Praful Rao