‘Landslides may be linked to Nepal quakes’

ENS, July 3, 2015: A senior professor and a geophysicist at the Department of Geology and Geophysics at IIT-Kharagpur on Thursday said the landslides in Darjeeling hills could be related to the earthquakes that had hit Nepal in April this year.

Professor Sankar Kumar Nath said: “Landslides are natural in Darjeeling hills but the intensity and the way these have spread shows that the fissures and cracks the landmass had developed during the Nepal earthquakes might have become aggravated.”

He added that the incessant downpour in Darjeeling district has led to a “saturation limit” and the landmass on the hill slopes had given way to the gravitational force, leading to such heavy cascading of mud and slush. “Mountains rolled down the slopes, taking everything along with its huge force,” said Nath.

A bridge over river Rathi Khola near Garidhura collapsed after heavy rain lashed Darjeeling.
The road from Siliguri to Mirik remains closed following the bridge collapse.

Altogether, 340 aftershocks with magnitude of 4 or above have hit Nepal following the deadly 7.8-strong earthquake on April 25 that killed nearly 9,000 people.

Nath, an expert on earthquakes, said: “Almost every day, tremors of different intensity are being felt, which has only helped to destabilize the hills.”

IIT’s department of earth sciences had approved Rs 70 lakh to a team of scientist to study landslides in the Sikkim region and suggest steps to mitigate the same. “The findings in Sikkim will be relevant for Darjeeling region as well,” said Nath.

Simultaneously, the IIT will run a collaborative project with the Norwegian government in Sikkim and Shillong regarding slope and rock stability. “Slope terracing is a very effective step of containing landslides but sustained efforts and long term plans are needed for the purpose,” Nath said.