Nature and neglect: GSI sounds alarm as landslides surge across India

Landslides in India are no longer driven by nature alone but by a perilous mix of climate change, shifting rainfall, deforestation, and unplanned construction in fragile terrains, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has cautioned.

“Geological factors, shifting climate patterns, and increasing human pressures together make our hilly regions particularly vulnerable,” GSI director general Asit Saha told PTI in Kolkata.

While India has always been prone to landslides — especially in the Himalayas and Western Ghats — recent years have seen a sharp surge in both their scale and destructiveness. Heavy monsoon rains, cloudbursts, and flash floods now routinely trigger slope failures, often worsened by deforestation, road building, and construction on unstable terrains.

Saha explained that fragile geology, tectonic activity, and steep slopes naturally predispose these regions to landslides, but human interventions have amplified the risks. “Deforestation reduces slope stability, while unplanned construction and disrupted drainage systems destabilise terrain further,” he said.

Although pollution itself does not directly cause landslides, the GSI chief noted that greenhouse gas emissions accelerate climate change, which in turn alters rainfall patterns and intensifies disasters in vulnerable areas like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and the Western Ghats.

Through its National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (NLSM) programme, the GSI has identified nearly 0.49 million sq km as landslide-prone — stretching from the entire Himalayan belt (Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh) to the Nilgiris, Konkan coast, and Kerala’s Western Ghats.

This monsoon alone, India has seen multiple deadly incidents:

• A massive landslide near Vaishno Devi shrine killed at least 30 after record rainfall.

• In Uttarakhand’s Dharali, a cloudburst triggered a mudslide that left several dead and many missing.

• Himachal Pradesh has been battered by repeated landslides, cloudbursts, and flash floods since June.

• In Jammu & Kashmir, flash floods and landslides blocked the Srinagar highway for days.

“Together, climate change and human activity are destabilising India’s slopes like never before,” Saha cautioned.

With PTI inputs