Q. Describe the various causes and the effects of landslides. Mention the important components of the National Landslide Risk Management Strategy.

Model Answer: 

Landslides involve the sudden downward movement of rock, debris, or earth under gravity. According to the Geological Survey of India (GSI), approximately 12.6% of India’s landmass is landslide-prone.

Causes and Effects of Landslides

Causes of Landslides:

• Natural/Geological: Heavy rainfall or cloudbursts acting as slope lubricants, coupled with seismic activity and steep topography (e.g., 2024 Wayanad debris flow).
• Anthropogenic/Developmental: Unscientific hill-cutting, deforestation, unplanned urbanization, and deep tunneling for hydro-power projects (e.g., Joshimath subsidence).
• Agricultural Practices: Unregulated shifting cultivation (Jhum) and lack of terracing in fragile hill ecologies, leading to rapid soil destabilization.

Effects of Landslides:

• Socio-Economic Destitution: Massive loss of lives, forced displacement, and severe disruption of local livelihoods, particularly in tourism and agriculture.
• Infrastructure Destruction: Severing of critical lifelines, including highways, bridges, and communication grids, which drastically hampers emergency rescue operations.
• Environmental Cascades: Depletion of fertile topsoil, river blockages creating artificial dams, and subsequent catastrophic downstream flash floods.

Components of National Landslide Risk Management Strategy (NLRMS)

Formulated by NDMA in 2019, the NLRMS provides a holistic blueprint for landslide disaster risk reduction:

• Landslide Hazard Zonation (LHZ): Generating macro (1:50,000 scale) and micro-level susceptibility mapping by the GSI to identify critical risk areas.
• Early Warning Systems (EWS): Establishing a rainfall-threshold-based Regional Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS) alongside site-specific IoT sensors.
• Mountain Zone Regulations: Formulating customized town-planning regulations, land-use zoning, and strict building by-laws tailored for fragile hill ecologies.
• Mitigation Interventions: Promoting structural (retaining walls, soil nailing) and non-structural (bio-engineering, vetiver grass planting) stabilization measures.
• Capacity Building & Awareness: Training local communities (Aapda Mitra), engineers, and administrators for rapid response and safer construction practices.
• Preparation of DPRs: Standardizing guidelines for drafting Detailed Project Reports to ensure scientific and systematic mitigation project execution.

Integrating the NLRMS guidelines with the Sendai Framework’s proactive risk reduction approach, alongside robust nature-based solutions, is critical to building systemic resilience across India’s vulnerable hill states.