INTRODUCTION

A landslide occurs when part of a natural slope is unable to support its own weight. For
example, soil material on a slippery surface underneath, can become heavy with rainwater and
slide down due to its increased weight. A landslide is a downward or outward movement of
soil, rock or vegetation, under the influence of gravity. This movement can occur in many
ways. It can be a fall, topple, slide, spread or flow. The speed of the movement may range from
very slow to rapid. The mass of moving material can destroy property along its path of
movement and cause death to people and livestock.

LANDSLIDE IN MALIN

On 30 July 2014, a landslide occurred in the village of Malin in the Ambegaon taluka of the
Pune district in Maharashtra, India. A massive landslide wiped out the village of Malin located
at 110 km from Pune city, in the Western Ghats on July 30. The landslide, which hit early in
the morning while residents were asleep, was believed to have been caused by a burst of heavy
rainfall and killed at least 134 people. The landslide was first noticed by a bus driver who drove
by the area and saw that the village had been overrun with mud and earth . Mound of mud and
debris that came down from a nearby hillock, swallowed up almost the entire tribal village of
around 50 families. Final death toll was 153 when the rescue operation was stopped and around
100 people were missing. Heavy rainfall before the disaster and after this happen, rainfall
doesn’t stop it continues which create difficulty while rescue people. This calamite is a lesson
for sustainable geotechnical planning in future to avoid massive loss of human life and
property.
GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND BEFORE LANDSLIDE

Malin village is a part of western ghat which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of
the eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity in the world. Basalt is the predominant rock
found in the hills reaching a thickness of 3 km. Other rock types foun d are charnockites, granite
gneiss, khondalites, leptynites, metamorphic gneisses with detached occurrences of crystalline
limestone, iron ore, dolerites and anorthosites. Residual laterite and bauxite ores are also found
in the southern hills. Malin is southern part of Ambegaon taluka which falls to the foothill of
Sahyadri Mountain range and is towards the west side of Pune city. The region has heavy
rainfall during south-west Manson. In Malin region soil type is brown in colour and western
region have an average rainfall of 1171 mm. Common crop in the region is rice and fingemelet.

CAUSES OF LANDSLIDE

• HEAVY RAINFALL:

The region was receiving particularly very heavy rainfall in the week between 25th to 31st
July. The data suggests that as much as 600 mm of precipitation may have affected this area
prior to the landslide occurring. Cumulative rainfall in the last week of July as recorded by
NASA’s and TRMM was more than 600 mm. There was continuous heavy rainfall since the
last three to four days in the area, rainwater saturated the soil along the slope of the village.
This developed as loose mud and eventually flowed down after gaining momentum, sweeping
terraces, walls and ultimately the houses in the village.
 • DEFORESTATION:

According to the Hindustan Times, official data indicates that close to 28,000 trees were cut,
but unofficial figures put the count at 300,000. The slope of the hill was flattened almost
halfway for agricultural purpose to such an extent that the hilltop had become unstable. Lack
of specified plan and its implementation regarding conservation of forest is main reason for the
landslides in the high rainfall intensity region of western ghat. Lack of specified plan and its
implementation regarding conservation of forest is main reason for the landslides in the high
rainfall intensity region of western ghat.

• CHANGE IN AGRICULTURE PRATICES:

Villagers had recently shifted from cultivation of rice and finger millet to wheat, which required
flattening of steep areas, which contributed to instability of the hills. Many Landslide experts
says that the root cause of the landslide at Malin appears to be levelling of land on the hill for
cultivation. The size of the individual paddy fields on this hill is very small, but the point is
that they have been retaining water. Due to this, the clay soil and stones are moving down, and
this created this massive landslide. It contributed to instability of the hills.

• HUMAN INTERFERENCE IN NATURE:

Stone quarrying results in formations that are unstable and could cause sudden landslides. This
reason should be mainly considered in high rainfall region like Malin where rainwater may
loosen the rocks and helps them to slide. Landslides caused by the human activity are common
in the inhabited areas of the hilly terrain. In spite of knowing the possibility o f landslide after
slope cutting for construction, many a time slopes are cut without any slope stability analysis
and adopting necessary preventive measures. Similarly, slope cutting, construction of support
wall etc is carried out by untrained workforce with very little knowledge about good methods
of hill slope development which results in the destabilization of slope. Construction of
hydroelectric dams, deforestation and the spread of unregulated buildings along riverbanks
magnify the impact of the monsoons. Development works carried out in pursuit of greater
economic growth – such as the construction activities and deforestation – are putting people
and the environment at greater risk when disasters strike. India is one of the most disaster -
prone countries in the world, and many of its 1.2 billion people live in areas vulnerable to
natural hazards such as floods, landslides, cyclones, droughts and earthquakes.

• BACKWATER OF DIMBHE DAM:

Construction of Dimbhe Dam ten years ago may be one of the reasons of landslide. The Malin
village falls in a backwater zone of Dimbhe Dam. Geology experts warned of the same kind of
more landslides after disaster at Malin village. They said landslides could occur in villages
located along the backwaters of Dimbhe dam. The Geological Survey of India (GSI), Nagpur
region, has sent a team to survey the areas to observe the warnings of such upcoming
catastrophe. The survey must identify cracks in hills, tilting of trees and electric poles.
Wherever such signs are seen, villagers must be relocated to safer places.

EFFECTS OF LANDSLIDE

• PROPERTY LOSS:

A huge loss of property and assets were observed after the disaster along with loss of
infrastructure, lifeline facilities farmland. So, many houses, shops and government building
too.

• LOSS OF AGRICULTURE:

Loss in productivity of agricultural or forest lands due to being buried by debris. All the fields
are lost and barely any fields left for food purpose.

• LOSS OF REVENUE:

Reduced property values due to unwillingness of people to purchase disaster prone land. Loss
of revenue due to loss of productivity, transport breakdown, etc. Increased cost due to
investments in preventing or mitigating future landslide damage.

• LOSS OF LIFE:

Loss of human productivity due to death and injury. Reduction in quality of life due to the
deaths of family members and the destruction of personal belongings, which had a great
sentimental value. Disaster had a profound impact on people’s emotional wellbeing affecting
their feelings, thoughts, actions, and relationships.

RESCUE AND REHABILATION

• Relief and rescue teams of NDRF immediately came into action between 30 July to 6
aug 2014.

• NDRF teams carried out 7 day and night and rescued 8 victims, retrieved 161 dead
bodies, 58 animal and property worth 30 lacs.

• Close to 650 NDRF person, doctor, nurses and volunteers involved I this whole process.

• Medical team is also a part of the rescue team for 24 hours.

• The Sakal Relief Fund has decided to construct a school and provide education to the
children of the Malin Village.
 • Maratha Relief Fund has collected about Rs. 1.11 crore for Malin Village.

• State government also provide free medical treatment to the injured people.

• Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also announced an aid of Rs. 5 lakhs to
the family of the victims from the CM Relief Fund.

PREVENTIONS

The best option to prevent the occurrences of such landslides would be to create awareness
among the people by organizing programs that explain the basics of good hill slope
development and management practices in the simplest and generalized way. Some of the very
important practices to be followed are enumerated below:

• The natural drainage shouldn’t be disturbed or blocked on the slope. Water shouldn’t
be allowed to accumulate or percolate on the slope.
• For support wall, wider base and slightly incline (towards hill) are to be provided. Weep
holes are must, and they should weep. This can be achieved with proper backfilling i.e.
coarser material at the bottom and successive finer layer.
• Care should be taken for anything that may move/fall downward.
• Exposing a very high vertical face should be avoided.
• Avoid adding load very close to the edge of the slope.

REFERENCES

• Greenwood, J.; Norris, J. & Wint, J. (2004), Assessing the contribution of vegetation to slope
stability, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 157, no. 4, pp. 199-207

• Maharashtra at a Glance (2005) Directorate General of Information and Public Relation,

Government Central Press, Mumbai. Proceedings of National Conference” GEPSID” held on
October 11-12, 2014, Ludhiana 698

• Report of Western Ghat Ecology Expert Panel (2011), Ecologically sensitive zones, pp16-36,
Government of India.

• Singh C. D., Singh Joginder, (2013), Landslides Caused due to Ignorance - Case Studies from
Northeast India, Journal Geological Society of India, Vol.82, pp.91-94.

• Tikke B. B, Patil Amrut K., Chavan R. R., Ms. Desai S.S, (2014) Review of Landslide: A
Special Attention Western Ghat Of Maharashtra, International Journal of Research in Advent
Technology, Vol.2, No.3