{"id":257086,"date":"2023-08-23T21:05:10","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=257086"},"modified":"2023-08-29T12:08:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T06:38:12","slug":"building-resilience-against-landslides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/building-resilience-against-landslides\/","title":{"rendered":"Building resilience against landslides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cBuilding resilience against landslides\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d <\/strong>on 23rd August 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS1- Geography. GS3- Disasters<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Space exploration<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– The deaths and destruction by landslides in Himachal Pradesh last week have led to much-needed attention on the Himalayan ecosystem.<\/p>\n

What are the reasons behind the vulnerability of Himalayan ecosystem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tectonic or neo-tectonic actions<\/strong> and surface processes<\/strong> including erosion, weathering, and rainfall impact the Himalayan ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Environmental vulnerabilities<\/strong> are exacerbated by extreme climatic events<\/strong> driven by climate changes<\/strong>. It results in occurrences like avalanches, landslides, debris flow, glacial lakes outburst floods, landslide lakes outburst floods, and rapid floods.<\/p>\n

Climate change has detrimental effects<\/strong> on glaciers, river systems, geomorphology, and biodiversity.<\/p>\n

These events contribute to the instability of the mountain system<\/strong>. Moreover, the Himalayan region faces additional pressure <\/strong>due to human activities.<\/p>\n

Mountainous areas are typically characterized by slope instability and a susceptibility to landslides. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Various factors influence these occurrences. These include slope steepness, elevation of hills, rock durability, forest coverage, urban development,<\/strong> and the presence of loosely consolidated sediment. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Activities such as river flow, alteration of the base of slopes, and deforestation<\/strong> contribute to the vulnerability of a region to landslides. Factors like debris flow<\/strong> and underground water weaken slopes<\/strong>, making them prone to sliding.<\/p>\n

The collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate<\/strong> in the Himalayan region generates subterranean stresses<\/strong> that are discharged as earthquakes. It causes fractures <\/strong>and weakens the litho-structures<\/strong> near the surface of the mountains.<\/p>\n

Way forward-<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a need to create vulnerability maps<\/strong> of Himalayas and classify regions into risk zones<\/strong> ranging from the most vulnerable to the least.<\/p>\n

Monitoring can be facilitated through web-based sensors like rain gauges, piezometers, inclinometers, extensometers, InSAR, and total stations. <\/strong><\/p>\n

To comprehensively assess the situation in the Himalayas, the establishment of a Himalayan States Council <\/strong>is imperative.<\/p>\n

This council should aim to replicate scenarios of hazards<\/strong> resulting from natural occurrences, environmental deterioration, climate-related events, and human interventions in hill towns and areas.<\/p>\n

The disaster management agencies<\/strong> of the respective states should collaborate within this centralized council. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Himalayan region possesses valuable assets<\/strong> such as glaciers, river systems, mineral deposits, geothermal and hydrocarbon energy reserves. These could be harnessed. Nonetheless, a delicate equilibrium<\/strong> must be maintained between exploiting<\/strong> these resources and ensuring ecological sustainability. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Urban planning<\/strong> must accommodate the unique characteristics of mountainous terrain. <\/strong>Limitations should be placed on extensive constructions.<\/strong> Proper drainage systems<\/strong> need to be established.<\/p>\n

Slope cutting <\/strong>should be carried out scientifically, and an emphasis should be placed on constructing retaining walls<\/strong> and adhering to building regulations. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is crucial to conduct high-resolution mapping <\/strong>for all towns and evaluate their load-bearing capacities<\/strong> as fundamental steps in the formulation of building codes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cBuilding resilience against landslides\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 23rd August 2023. Syllabus: GS1- Geography. GS3- Disasters Relevance: Space exploration News– The deaths and destruction by landslides in Himachal Pradesh last week have led to much-needed attention on the Himalayan ecosystem. What are the reasons behind… Continue reading Building resilience against landslides<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[411,216],"class_list":["post-257086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-disaster-management","tag-gs-paper-3","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}