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Experts have blamed anthropogenic activities and climate change for the catastrophic landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad district during the wee hours of July 30.
Over 100 people died, and hundreds are feared trapped after the landslides struck Chooralmala and Mundakkai villages in the district. The death toll is expected to rise further.
Kerala must come up with a governmental policy for people in ecologically fragile areas prone to annual landslides and floods. There is a need to relocate and rehabilitate people from such areas, the experts told Down To Earth (DTE).
Micro-level landslide hazard mapping statewide must be urgently taken up, they added.
The Kerala government had promised to take up both these activities after devastating floods struck the state in 2018. The massive deluge had triggered numerous landslides in Wayanad and Idukki districts. Both districts are in Kerala’s section of the Western Ghats and are hilly and forested.
However, progress is yet to be made although extreme weather events have become an annual affair in Kerala.
In the last six years alone, about 300 people died in landslides that occurred across Kerala. The latest tragedy indicates that massive rains and major landslides will continue to haunt the state in the future as well.
The district of Wayanad is being literally stripped bare of its forest and soil cover, according to experts. Quarrying, hill levelling for construction, extensive road building, expansion in hilly areas, and mono-crop farming contribute to landslides triggered by heavy rains intensified by climate change.
Four years ago, the Puthumala landslide in Kerala led to the emergence of ‘soil piping’. This hydraulic process creates large air-filled voids in the subsurface, often associated with landslides and collapse subsidence.
The landslides in Mundakkai and Chooralmala imply that soil piping may have been the cause. Interestingly, Puthumala is just two kilometres from where the July 30 landslides occurred.
The recent landslides exhibit all the characteristics of soil piping, according to M G Manoj, a scientist from the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research. He also pointed out the soil’s inability to absorb large amounts of water in a short period and the significant surface voids formed by the Puthumala tragedy, which contributed to the scale of the disaster.
P U Das, a soil conservation officer in Wayanad, explained that during peak monsoon, rainwater seeps into the subsoil, loosening the connection between mud and rocks. This leads to landslides as water-soaked earth and large rocks tumble down.
The Kerala Forest Research Institute’s principal scientist, T V Sajeev, stated that heavy rains lead to landslides due to the various anthropogenic activities being undertaken. For instance, Chooralmala and Mundakkai are occupied by mono-crop tea estates, and the region also has extensive tourism infrastructure due to its proximity to the Meenmutti Waterfalls. Despite regulations, several tourist resorts have been built in highly fragile areas by influencing officials.
According to the Kerala Disaster Management Authority’s landslide hazard profile map, over forty per cent of Wayanad district is susceptible to landslides, with the Meppadi region, including Chooralmala, Mundakai, and Puthumala, being especially critical. Kvalappara in the Malappuram district, which experienced a massive landslide four years ago, is on the opposite side of the Meppadi hills.
Climate change is also playing its part in exacerbating the problem.
Kerala has been facing significant challenges posed by climate change for several years. The state experienced a severe drought in 2015, followed by the devastating Ockhi cyclone in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, there were significant landslides along with massive floods.
Gopakumar Cholayil, a faculty member at the Academy of Climate Change Education and Research at Kerala Agriculture University, stated that rainfall patterns in Kerala and the surrounding Western Ghats have drastically changed over the past six years.
Geoscientist and professor C P Rajendran, who worked with the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bengaluru, highlighted the urgent need for Kerala to establish clear land management and water utilisation policies.
Additionally, the state must develop long-term strategies to address annual floods and landslides, which disproportionately affect poor communities in environmentally vulnerable areas.
Rajendran also emphasised the importance of shifting land use patterns and implementing large-scale projects with significant environmental considerations.
Rajendran stated that the state needs to have zoning regulations for land use, including “landslide susceptibility data”.