Daily News Analysis » Landslides in Manipur

Landslides in Manipur

Landslides in Manipur: Find everything you need to know here!

Why in the News?

Recently, a landslide hit the Jiribam-Imphal railway line project in Manipur.

Key Points:

About Landslides

  • Landslides are a type of “mass wasting,” which shows any down-slope movement of soil and rock under the direct influence of gravity.
  • They often take place in conjunction with earthquakes, floods and volcanoes.
  • It occurs without the help of geological agents such as water, ice, or wind.
  • “Landslide” encompasses five modes of slope movement:
      • Falls
      • Topples
      • Slides
      • Spreads
      • Flows

Natural Causes:

  • Slope destabilization due to Pressure of groundwater
  • Little or no vertical vegetative structure
  • Absence of soil cover
  • Erosion of the top of a slope by rivers
  • Weakening of a slope through saturation by snowmelt or heavy rains

Human-Induced causes:

  • Mine and blast activities
  • Construction, agricultural, or forestry activities which change the amount of water which infiltrates into the soil
Challange:
  • Landslides are largely controlled by highly localised factors.
    • Hence, gathering information and monitoring the possibilities of landslides is not only difficult but also immensely cost-intensive.

Consequences of Landslides:

  • b>Infrastructure Loss: Destruction of railway lines and channel-blocking due to rock-falls have far-reaching consequences.
  • Diversion of river courses.
  • b>Impacts Development: It also makes spatial interaction difficult, risky as well as a costly affair, which adversely affects the developmental activities in these areas.

Mitigation Measures:

  • Locate areas prone to landslides through Hazard mapping.
  • Construction of retention wall to stop the land from slipping.
  • Increase in the vegetation cover.
  • The surface drainage control works to control the movement of a landslide along with rain water and spring flows.
  • Terrace farming

Jiribam-Imphal railway:

  • Jiribam-Imphal line is a broad-gauge project that entails connecting Manipur’s Jiribam, and Imphal mostly across the fragile hills of Noney district.
  • b>Length: 110.625 km
  • It is considered a vital segment of the Trans-Asian Railway envisaged as an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia.
  • The project involves 46 tunnels with a total length of 61.398 km with Tunnel number 12 on this line is India’s longest railway tunnel at 11.55 km.