Landslides: An Avoidable Disaster
“Why? What is the purpose of being so adventurous at such an age?” asked my Grandpa in a high-pitched, agitated voice to Grandma.
“Why? What is the purpose of being so adventurous at such an age?” asked my Grandpa in a high-pitched, agitated voice to Grandma.
It was a normal, expected behaviour from him, because grandma proposed something he was known to defy all the time: a religious trip to the Badrinath-Kedarnath Dham!
Throughout those childhood days, I always had the impression that both my grandparents were from different planets because they hardly ever agreed on anything.
And if it was related to travelling, then the difference rarely subsides, giving rise to a bout of altercations till the time of execution arrives and a particular decision is taken!
On that day, Grandma tried for the last time to convince Grandpa to take the tour with her friends, so that she could visit the mountainous holy shrine and earn the religious dividend. Grandpa, on the other hand, was always averse to the idea of travelling, and if it was related to hilly areas, then it was a strict no-no from his side.
For the last couple of days, his better-half has been irritating him with the idea of travelling to a venturesome holy shrine, which his conscience rejects.
This time, when Grandma came once again with the same request, he wanted to end the conversation by citing the logic behind his argument!
Responding to Grandpa’s irksome question, she said, “What adventure? This is simply paying a visit to the holy shrine, a practice followed by so many devotees for many centuries! Difficult terrain of the shrine makes it impossible for us to go all alone, so if we go together along with the group, then it would reduce emotional pressure on you.”
Probably it triggered the emotional outburst of Grandpa, so outrageously he said, “Just tell me, in the midst of a towering mountain, if something happens to us or to our vehicle, then how would your friend’s presence reduce my emotional pressure? Do you have any idea about the stiffness of those mountains? In some cases, the vehicle has to take an abrupt turn at the edge of the cliff to navigate the route.
And while trudging on those cliff sides, many travelers had lost their lives because the driver of the vehicle lost control and fell from the crag, ending everyone’s life. In such a scenario, how would your friend’s presence pacify my anxiety? It would only add to the count of dead bodies, nothing more than that.”
“Why are you being so skeptical all the time? Can’t you be optimistic and enjoy life, as others do?”
“Being older than you, I have seen more lives and witnessed how lives can be lost in a fraction of a second, just because of a wrong perception. Can you imagine, while trading on the mountainous terrain, if there is a torrential rainfall, leading to a landslide event, which is not abnormal in those regions, what would be your fate? You would be lost forever, both figuratively and physically! In such conditions, your friends would not come forward to rescue you, because they would have been enjoying the same fate as you only!”
Listening to Grandpa’s agitated arguments, she chose to remain silent, not out of conviction but to avoid the conflict. So, instead of staying there and tolerating the arguments of Grandpa, she turned back and made a move from that place while murmuring, “Very wisely painted the cowardly temperament as reasonable and pragmatic!”
“I heard that and don’t mind being labelled as a coward, because my family’s safety and security is my utmost priority.”- heard from Grandpa with a loud and elongated voice.
However, just after four days of that mild conflict, the news of the Kedarnath shrine being submerged under the influence of mudflow due to a cloud burst, leading to large number of loss of lives, making thousands stranded in the Himalayan mountains, sent a shiver of shock through her. She panicked after seeing the visual clips on the television, while grandpa was behaving like a prophet, predicting an apocalyptic event, with a raised collar, before her.
Grandma’s face on that day was a mixture of emotions: confusion, disbelief, and sadness. She just wanted to understand how the mighty Himalaya, abode of so many holy shrines and rivers, has become a risky zone that threatens life! The horror of the video images of devastation and destruction brought by that landslide was unfathomable, leaving her quiet for a couple of hours.
On the occasion of World Soil Day, celebrated on 5th December, when the whole world is glorifying the importance of healthy soil for healthy cities, my memory was reminded of Grandma’s grief-stricken face after seeing visuals of the landslide in Kedarnath. She just said, “What kind of progress are we the humans making towards, if it is taking away the soil beneath our feet?”
Soil, the bedrock of life on earth, needs our care and support to continue civilization for many more centuries. Given the increasing incidence of landslides in hilly regions of our country, which are causing massive economic losses, we need to adopt specific measures, such as controlling water by integrating surface and sub-surface drainage in those sloping areas. Simultaneously, emphasis should be placed on minimizing destabilization of the mountain’s slope during development projects, which also causes massive deforestation and is a potential cause of landslides.
Technologies of addressing these issues can be learnt from countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Norway, which are leaders in landslide management and excel through advanced early warning systems, monitoring the early signs of landslides, and efficient communication for early evacuation. Bio-engineering is a nature-based solution for the landslide incident that prioritize trees for maintaining soil stability. Soil is not mere dust and dirt; it provides the foundation of life that we need to care for and give respect.
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