An avoidable tragedy: Mal Bazar (05Oct2022) 8pm

Mal Bazar is now a large town in Jalpaiguri district in the Dooars (see map above). The Dooars mainly consists of tea growing areas which are dissected by numerous small rivers originating in the foothills of Kalimpong district in W Bengal (India) and Bhutan, the two major ones being Jaldhaka and the Torsa rivers.
The foothills on the northern borders receive some of the heaviest rainfall in this region (approx 4000mm annually), often in violent thunderstorms in the late evening and night.

On 05Oct2022 at around 8pm, after completion of Durga Puja in Mal Bazar, the idols were taken by the worshipers for the immersion ceremony to Mal river. What followed still seems rather blurry and confused, but many people were swept away as can be seen in the video
- 8 people died.

video credit: State IAG WhatsApp group

The 24hr (0830am to 0830am) rainfall record (in mm) of Gorubathan and Jaldhaka , both small hamlets in the catchment area (see map) where STH has manual rain gauges are given below:

My personal assessment is,

• At this time, the rivers of this area are fast flowing mountain streams fed by rainfall in the catchment area in the foothills.
• Having said that, I don't think the rainfall for the past three days could have triggered a 'flash flood'. There are no dams in the area.
  
• More likely, that they underestimated the current and in the ensuing panic people lost balance and drowned.
  

A media report is placed below:

And of course the politicians have stepped in to give their expert opinions:

 Update

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of Sep 2022 of some town in the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

 

We had deficient rainfall again for most towns with the notable exception of Mangan in N Sikkim.
Kalimpong was the most deficient receiving only 35% of its monthly rainfall. Interestingly, much of Kalimpong district is bang opposite SOUTH SIKKIM district and is separated only by the Teesta river. South Sikkim is the drought prone district of Sikkim ( -21% deficiency) as such rainfall deficiency in Kalimpong may be expected.
A number of low pressure areas formed in the Bay of Bengal during Sep2022 and that could be the reason for less rain in our region (the moisture bearing winds are drawn away from the sub - Himalayas when a circulation forms in the Bay).

Update from 'The Weather Channel' on 11Oct2022
Meanwhile, the southwest monsoon continues to withdraw from the northwestern parts of the country. Normally, its exit from the northeastern region begins around October 10; but judging from the rate of withdrawal thus far, it may get slightly delayed this year.

As for the seasonal precipitation, the northeastern region collectively recorded below-average rainfall during the four monsoon months from June to September. The combined monsoon rain figure for East and Northeast India stands at 1124.8 mm — 18% below their long-period monsoon average of 1367.3 mm.

Within the Northeast, the Assam-Meghalaya subdivision recorded 1600.7 mm rain (9% deficit), the N.M.M.T. states registered 943.2 mm precipitation (28% deficit), Arunachal Pradesh received 1430.3 mm (15% deficit), while Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim enjoyed precisely ‘normal’ seasonal rains at 1887.1 mm.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

Our video on Tanyang Landslides is featured in Prof Dave Petley's blog

While Prof Dave Petley, was recently appointed the Vice Chancellor of the Univ of Hull, it has been our proud privilege of having known Dave for many years and also regularly following his world famous blog on landslides.
I am extremely glad to mention here that our video (https://youtu.be/OQZpNDNktiU ) made on the landslide and landslide victims of Tanyang village in Kalimpong was featured in Dave's landslide blog recently.
The link is here.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities in September 2022 : Awareness Workshops

 

Raising awareness about landslide hazards, disaster risk and environmental issues remains
one of the primary roles of STH

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

A short documentary on Tanyang Landslides

 

Continuing our coverage of the landslides in Tanyang village (Samalbung GP, Kalimpong 1) please find a link of a short documentary we have made on the landslide.

https://youtu.be/OQZpNDNktiU 

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Tanyang, a village on the edge (11Sep2022)

Tanyang, a tiny village (in Samalbung GP, Kalimpong 1) composed almost entirely of people from the Lepcha community is approximately 2hrs drive from Kalimpong. It is a village of farmers and as such, land being their most precious asset, the loss of 10-12 acres of land due to the landslides creates a huge dent on the earnings and livelihoods of the people.
I was rather surprised to hear of a recent landslide in the village because of the mild summer monsoons this year and a deficiency in rains in July and August 2022.
We were in the landslide affect areas adjoining the main village yesterday where we did a drone survey of the landslide.
A Google - Earth image of the landslide dated 1/1/2021 is placed below:

 

The local people, who are often the best judges, offered various reasons for the cause of the landslide:

• It was initially triggered during the major landslide disaster of Oct 1968, which is totally believable since many of the old landslides started with this event.
• Some of the villagers said it was the Sep2011 Sikkim earthquake which had created the cracks and the fissures.
• Everyone seemed quite sure that the heavy rainfall on 26Aug2022 had caused the recent landslides which necessitated the evacuation of 10 families from the immediate vicinity of the landslide.
• Some said water was oozing out from inside the slide which probably caused the slide.
  
• One could safely rule out human activity as a probable cause. There is no urban built up areas here, population is low, no major road construction or other developmental activity. No jhora nearby which could have caused the erosion and the river at the base of the mountain is quite far and could not have caused toe erosion.
  
  
   
   
  10 families, including women and children had been evacuated and were housed in temporary structures and also in the ICDS building
  
  
  
  

When interviewed the women folk especially were apprehensive of the future and wanted to be relocated close by somewhere and quickly since the future of the family and children were at stake. 

 Media report of the landslide is placed below:

The link to the drone footage and interviews will be put up as soon as it is ready.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of August 2022 of some town in the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

 

August 2022  was again a month when rainfall for most places, in the Darjeeling Sikkim Himalayas was less than normal - with most of the precipitation taking place in the plains of the Dooars in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts.
Also for the second successive month, Darjeeling had less rain than Kalimpong.

What undoubtedly caused less rainfall was sudden activity in the Bay of Bengal with several low pressure areas forming which then moved inland as depressions.

The rainfall distribution in Sikkim and North Bengal (as per IMD) is shown below. The hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts along with East and South Sikkim districts saw deficient rainfall.

Not much landslide activity was observed in our region, the exception being several areas along NH10 (Highway connecting Siliguri to Gangtok).

As you would observe we have added several remote areas, in our rainfall reports - these area Mangzing and Bijanbari.
Mangzing (in Gorubathan block, Kalimpong district) receives the full fury of the monsoons and has the around the highest rainfall in our region.


Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities in August 2022 (contd); participating in 2 training/awareness programs (18Aug & 30Aug2022) in KALIMPONG

 

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

STH Activities : Participating in a CARITAS (India/Germany) workshop on Disaster Risk In Darjeeling (12Aug2022)

 On 12Aug2022, STH had the pleasure of attending an in person workshop at Sinclair's Hotel
Darjeeling on Disaster Risk. The meeting was  organized by Anugyalaya DSSS along with CARITAS (India/Germany).

Praful Rao
with
Shreya Gurung
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Landslide update 1Aug22

 Landslides along NH10

1. Berrick Dara - NH10

2. 29th Mile - NH10

Approx. Latitude Longitude given in the image below

Rainfall data of Kalimpong:
1Aug22 - 42.4mm
31Jul22 - 52.6

Video Credits: KTV 

Shreya Gurung

Kalimpong District
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya