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Land Degradation in the Western Ghats: The Case of the Kavalappara Landslide in Kerala, India
Landslides are a menacing problem in India. Each year, there are several landslides in various parts of the country. With extreme weather events occurring more frequently and human activity negatively impacting slope stability, the number of fatal landslides has been increasing over the years. One such event was the 2019 Kavalappara landslide in the Western Ghats of Kerala State, India, which resulted in the loss of 59 lives and considerable damage to property. Our observations show that human activity exacerbated slope instability—the conversion of natural vegetation to plantations, step cutting of slopes, construction of soak pits causing water to infiltrate into the slope, construction of homes on natural drainage channels, and improper methods of drainage such as directly releasing water from homes into the slope, have all contributed to slope instability. Extremely heavy and continuous rainfall on the days preceding the slide and toe incision of the slope by an inundated tributary of the Chaliyar River proved to be fatal, resulting in a huge debris flow. We recommend some immediate remedial measures and also discuss possible long-term solutions to the problem of slope instability in this region.
Land Degradation in the Western Ghats: The Case of the Kavalappara Landslide in Kerala, India
Landslides are a menacing problem in India. Each year, there are several landslides in various parts of the country. With extreme weather events occurring more frequently and human activity negatively impacting slope stability, the number of fatal landslides has been increasing over the years. One such event was the 2019 Kavalappara landslide in the Western Ghats of Kerala State, India, which resulted in the loss of 59 lives and considerable damage to property. Our observations show that human activity exacerbated slope instability—the conversion of natural vegetation to plantations, step cutting of slopes, construction of soak pits causing water to infiltrate into the slope, construction of homes on natural drainage channels, and improper methods of drainage such as directly releasing water from homes into the slope, have all contributed to slope instability. Extremely heavy and continuous rainfall on the days preceding the slide and toe incision of the slope by an inundated tributary of the Chaliyar River proved to be fatal, resulting in a huge debris flow. We recommend some immediate remedial measures and also discuss possible long-term solutions to the problem of slope instability in this region.
Land Degradation in the Western Ghats: The Case of the Kavalappara Landslide in Kerala, India
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
Ashish, Deepankar Kumar (editor) / de Brito, Jorge (editor) / Vasudevan, Nirmala (author) / Ramanathan, Kaushik (author) / Syali, T. S. (author)
F-EIR Conference on Environment Concerns and its Remediation ; 2021 ; Chandigarh, India
2022-03-04
9 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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