Kerala Landslides: 10 Of 30 Most Landslide-Prone Districts Located In Kerala, Check What Caused Tragedy In Wayanad

The death toll from the Wayanad landslide reached 143 on Wednesday morning, according to the Kerala Health Department, as reported by ANI. The landslides, which struck various hilly areas near Meppadi in Wayanad district early Tuesday, have left behind massive trails of destruction. Over 200 members from the Fire and Rescue, Civil Defence, NDRF, and Local Emergency Response Teams are engaged in the rescue operation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has assured that all possible rescue efforts will be coordinated to address the landslides in Wayanad.

As per the landslide atlas released by the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) National Remote Sensing Centre in 2023, 10 out of the 30 most landslide-prone districts in India were located in Kerala, with Wayanad ranked 13th.

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Scientists have identified a mix of causes for the landslides: loss of forests, climate change and excessive mining.

Loss Of Forest Cover

59 per cent of the total landslides in Kerala occurred in plantation areas, according to a study on landslide hotspots in India. In 2022 as well, a study on the depleting forest cover in Wayanad showed that 62 per cent of forests in the district disappeared between 1950 and 2018 while plantation cover rose by around 1,800 per cent.

As per the study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, around 85 per cent of the total area of Wayanad was under forest cover until the 1950s.

Reduced forest cover increases the fragility of the terrain, especially in areas prone to heavy rains in the western ghats.

Rapid Climate Change

Director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), S Abhilash, stated that the warming of the Arabian Sea is one of the causes for the extremely heavy and unpredictable rain patterns in Kerala.

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"Our research found that the southeast Arabian Sea is becoming warmer, causing the atmosphere above this region, including Kerala, to become thermodynamically unstable," he said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Abhilash said that scientists have noticed a trend of deep cloud systems forming due to the warming of the Arabian sea, which causes extremely heavy spells of rain in shorter periods of time, increasing the risk of landslides, especially when these intrude into land. He added that this pattern of rainfall has been observed since the 2019 Kerala floods.

Research by Abhilash and other scientists published in Climate and Atmospheric Science journal in 2022 found that rainfall over the west coast of India was becoming more convective - intense rains in shorter periods.

Environmental Harm And Mining

The "Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel" put in place by the government under ecologist Madhav Gadgil, has suggested that the Wayanad hill ranges be declared ecologically sensitive.

The panel wanted the ranges to be segregated into zones based on their ecological sensitivity with focus on monitoring vulnerable sections and protecting them from commercial activities.

A ban on mining, quarrying, new thermal power plants, hydropower projects and large-scale wind energy projects in ecologically sensitive zone 1 was the demand by the panel.

The suggestions made by the panel have not been implemented even after 14 years due to resistance from state governments, industries and local communities.