Tragic landslides

The series of landslides in Barak Valley which claimed over 20 human lives on Monday is one of the biggest natural disasters that have struck Assam in the past twelve months or so, at the same time also exposing the weakness of the existing disaster mitigation and management mechanism. The incidents came on the heels of the first wave of floods, which displaced lakhs in the state in the past week. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, Cachar district reported seven deaths (4 children, 3 adults) in the Lakhipur revenue circle, Karimganj district reported six deaths (3 children, 3 adults) in the Nilambazar Revenue Circle and Hailakandi district reported eight deaths (6 adults, 2 children) in the Hailakandi revenue circle. Most of the affected houses were of make-shift nature and located near a hillock, with continuous rainfall for four to five days causing the soil to loosen, resulting in landslides which destroyed the houses. One day after the triple tragedy in the Barak Valley, landslides struck again, this time in Dima Hasao district, with houses belonging to at least 25 families either fully or partially damaged. It was only a few days ago that a major landslide reported at Maibang in Dima Hasao district had disrupted movement of Shramik Special train services bringing migrant workers from other parts of India to Silchar, Tripura, and Jiribam (Manipur). While indiscriminate destruction of forests and encroachment in forests and hillslopes has been the main reasons behind such tragedies, it is also a fact that successive governments have miserably failed to put an end to encroachments. On the flip side, a section of politicians has always only encouraged encroachers instead of contributing towards protection of forests, hills and rivers. It is common knowledge that encroachment, whether inside National Parks like Kaziranga, Orang, Manas or Dibru-Saikhowa, or in the hills and wetlands in and around Guwahati, have been openly backed by a section of politicians who have least respect for the environment and are by and large illiterates and anti-development by virtue of failing to understand the dangerous portents of deforestation, climate change and global warming. Assam is a multihazard State prone to floods, earthquakes, storms and landslides besides man-made disasters. Also the state faces the acute twin problem flood and erosion. Assam has a history of disasters ranging from large earthquakes to severe floods. Continued deforestation and demand for more and more agricultural land has also led to the destabilization of hill slopes which during the monsoons come down as landslides. In case of Guwahati, haphazard construction of settlement without any necessary measures has resultant into instability of slopes in the region. Deforestation, illegal settlement construction, inappropriate drainage system, construction work and supported by intense and prolonged rainfall in the city have together leading to slope failure. Recently the frequency and intensity of landslide incidents have increased in the region. There has been a lot of casualty and damage of property due to this geological hazard, which can be prevented to a large extent by way of stopping encroachment and illegal construction of dwelling houses particularly on hillslopes and river-banks. Stationing quick reaction teams of the State Disaster Management Authority on the other hand is one way of saving lives, while volunteers can also be trained in every landslide-prone locality in order to carry out primary rescue operations apart from immediately reporting to the authorities. After all, every single human life is precious, irrespective of whether one lives in a village or a city, on one's own land or on land belonging to the reserved forests and national parks.