In a bid to study the reasons for landslips in the Nilgiris, a team of experts is collecting soil samples at 15 locations in the district where landslips were reported in recent months. The survey will also assess the possibility of landslips in future and suggest remedial measures.
With the permission of the Department of Science and Technology, a team including experts from the Vellore Institute of Technology and the Coimbatore-based firm Geo Design are on the job of collecting the samples.
On the heels of the disaster that struck the Uttarkhand hills, the Union government embarked on a study on the possibility of natural disasters. The study indicated the possibility of landslips and earthquake in Himalayas.
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Taking a cue from the results of the study, the Union government decided to focus on the Western Ghats, with a special reference to the Nilgiris, taking into account natural calamities that struck in the last 200 years.
Earliest incident in 1940
An earlier study identified as many as 106 places, including Coonoor, as those prone to landslips. Revenue records of the Nilgiris district indicated that landslip and other natural disasters in the Nilgiris persisted since 1800 and constructions during the colonial period remained very restricted.
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Landslips during rainy season were a regular affair in the Nilgiris since 1910. The earliest land slip in the Nilgiris dated back to 1940 in over 40 places. In 1978-79, the place recorded the largest number of landslips at 200 places. Immediately after the incident, a mapping was done to record the geographical pattern of the districts and danger zones.
The exercise that began in 1979 was completed in 1972. Earlier, studies in the district were conducted in over 100 places that were prone to landslips, and in the last 30 years, landslips occurred in over 40 places.
The landslips of 1994-99 resulted in Marappalam being washed away, severing it from Coimbatore district.
On November 13, 2006, landslips were reported in 96 places leading to the destruction of 190 constructions. From November 8 to 11 in 2009 during the torrential downpour, 60 places including Udhagamandalam, Coonoor and Kotagiri witnessed landslips claiming 43 lives and damaging 816 dwelling units.