Himalayan region likely to face more of landslides: scientist

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 29

A scientist of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dr Vikram Gupta, does not rule out the Himalayan region witnessing more landslides in the near future, particularly during the rainy season, as fallout of Nepal’s massive earthquake.

The earthquake at Nepal which has been the result of a rupture caused by the collision of a moving Indian plate with a Eurasian plate, could have further ramifications in the form of a rise in the occurrence of landslides in the Himalayas in near future.

“The Nepal earthquake could trigger more landslides in the Himalayan region in the forthcoming rainy season. Certainly the tremors have made the earth loose and hill slopes are bound to witness more of landslides in the near future,” Gupta said while referring to the severe intensity of the Nepal tremors.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Vikram Gupta, who has worked on landslide hazard and risk assessment in the Himalayas for the past two decades, said the forthcoming rains could be the triggering factor behind occurrences of more of landslides in the Himalayas, particularly in areas where soil and rocks could have got loose due to the recent tremors. He said avalanches in Mount Everest caused due to the Nepal earthquake evidently points to the fact that tremors could further result in geological hazards in the form of landslides.

“Intense seismic shaking can make himalayas more susceptible to landslides,” Dr Gupta said.

He pointed out that countries like Japan have achieved a lot in enforcing effective mitigation measures to keep earthquake losses to a minimum and asserted that much needs to be done in a country like India from the awareness point of view.

Strongly advocating bringing the subject of geology in schools, Dr Gupta said awareness vis-à-vis natural disasters like earthquakes was very important. He said while there was no predictability for an occurrence of a landslide, mitigation measures could certainly be adopted to check loss of lives and property, for which society needs to be sensitised.

He said quake-proof construction should be a must which otherwise is ignored by society due to higher amount of money required for such constructions.