Landslide study bats for community-led disaster preparedness

Beyond extreme rainfall, study points to years of environmental neglect, including significant deforestation that has resulted in 62% loss of forest cover since 1950

- POOJA NAIR @Kozhikode

A CATASTROPHIC landslide that devastated parts of Wayanad has become the focal point of a groundbreaking joint report that challenges conventional disaster management.

The study is authored by a collaborative team of experts from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), and Japan's Keio University.

The disaster itself unfolded in the early hours, catching many residents off guard as they were fast asleep. Triggered by a staggering 409 mm of rainfall in just 24 hours, the deluge saturated an already weakened hillside and reactivated an ancient landslide zone on steep slopes ranging from 25 to 40 degrees. The resulting debris flow, a destructive mix of mud and rock, originated in a forested area near the Iruvanjipuzha River and swept through villages like Chooralmala and Mundakkai, carving an eight-kilometer-long path of destruction.

Satellite evaluations by the National Remote Sensing Centre and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) painted a stark picture of the scale of the event.