Landslides
All you need to know about landslides.
Landslides:
Landslides occur when a mass of rock, earth, or debris slides down a slope. Landslides are a type of “mass wasting”, which refers to any down-slope movement of soil and rock that is directly affected by gravity. The term “landslide” encloses five modes of slope movement: falls, topples, slides, spreads, and flows. Additionally, there are subcategories based on the type of geological material (bedrock, debris, or earth). There are various types of landslides, including debris flows, mudslides, and rockfalls.
Causes: Most landslides are caused by multiple factors.
Effects:
Landslides can happen anywhere in the world and are more common than any other geological occurrence. The Himalayas can claim to have experienced landslides of every kind—large and small, swift and slow, old and recent. The NRSC (National Remote Sensing Center) Atlas on selected corridors of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh has been very useful in minimising the damage. As part of a parallel subject on landslide mitigation, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing applications are being employed by NRSC at NDMA through database gathering from all related departments and being stored through the good offices of GIS and other agencies, CSIR labs, DST, etc.