Guwahati: A critical safety alarm has been sounded across Assam's capital after an official survey identified 366 highly vulnerable landslide sites spread across the hills surrounding Guwahati, posing a severe threat to thousands of residents.
The extensive vulnerability assessment, conducted by the Kamrup Metropolitan district administration, highlights the acute danger facing informal settlements built along unstable slopes. Areas such as Hengrabari, Geetanagar, Maligaon, and Khanapara have been flagged as high-risk zones where heavy monsoon downpours could trigger catastrophic soil collapse.
Unregulated hill cutting, deforestation, and weak drainage infrastructure have severely compromised the structural integrity of the hillsides, turning these inhabited slopes into ticking ecological time bombs. Every year, early monsoon rains trigger mudslides in these pockets, often resulting in tragic fatalities and widespread property damage.
In response to the alarming findings, district disaster management authorities have issued urgent advisories to families residing in the designated danger zones. Officials are actively preparing emergency evacuation protocols and relief shelters. Furthermore, the administration has urged citizens to remain highly vigilant and strictly avoid further hill cutting or unauthorised construction during the peak rain season to prevent loss of life.