18 October 2021
Multiple fatal landslides in Kerala, India
Posted by Dave Petley
Multiple fatal landslides in Kerala, India
Heavy rainfall in Kerala, SW India, since Friday has triggered landslides and floods that have killed at least 26 people. It appears that most of the deaths have occurred in landslides and debris flows.
A large failure occurred at Poovanchi, destroying five houses and killing at least seven people. The Indian Express has a good image of the landslide:
The 16 October 2021 landslide at Poovanchi in Kerala India. Image by EPS, Albin Mathew, via the Indian Express.
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The landslide is apparently about 500 m long. The Indian Express article links the failure to unregulated local quarrying:
But was that purely an instance of natural calamity? Not necessarily. Local people suspect the landslide in Poovanchi has more to do with man’s greed than nature’s fury. Poovanchi is located in an area made fragile by unregulated quarrying. A hill in the remote village has more than two quarries. The granite quarry on the opposite side of the hill, where the landslide happened, has scooped out a portion equal to what was lost to the landslide.
Unfortunately I am unable to find an image of the source area to verify whether quarrying might have played a role.
A further significant landslide occurred at Kavali in Koottikkal in Kerala, in which six people were killed:-
The landslide at Kavali in Koottikkal in Kerala, India, which killed six people. Image by EPS, Vishnu Prathap, via the Indian Express.
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Three of the people killed were children, aged 14, 12 and 10.
Kerala, located on the west side of India, frequently suffers from landslides during the monsoon. However, this event is comparatively late in the annual cycle. It appears that the heavy rainfall is now subsiding, which should allow the recovery operations to be completed. Heavy rainfall has affected other areas of South Asia in recent years. The Melamchi area of Nepal has once again suffered from serious damage, and there are warnings of rainfall across other areas of Nepal.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
Tragic, again. Our condolences to all who have lost family, friends, and neighbors. Looking at the quarry area and the hillside, some L-Band data would be needed to really capture the essence of what may have been happening before. At-risk areas like this — adjacent to workings and with slopes, are the areas that #monitoring engagements can support. Before the climate or environmentally triggering event. But we lag months and years behind in this initiative.
Perhaps we can move the needle a bit in this regard in the future.
In last some years, it seems there is a growing trend of post-monsson disaster in India, Nepal and in this sub-continet, sometime during the beginning of October. This has to be studied and any change in the climate should be aknowledged and reflected in the DRR and Climate Change Adaptation initiatives and actions.
Hi Dave,
I think the coordinates of the quarry are 9 degrees 33’57″N and 76 degrees 53’35″E. There is a mosque named Masjidul Ihsan Poovanchi at 9 degrees 34’07″N and 76 degrees 53’15″E which I believe is the location of the village of Poovanchi.