Land Slides

Natural calamities, of one description or the other, affect nations all over the world. Because of large geographical size of the country, India often faces natural calamities like floods, cyclones and drought occurring fairly frequently in different parts of the country. At times, the same area is subjected to floods and drought situation in successive seasons or years. While not all natural calamities can be predicated and prevented, a state of preparedness and ability to respond quickly to a natural calamity can considerably mitigate loss of life and property and the human suffering and restore normalcy at the earliest. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that a plan of action for dealing with contingencies that arise in the wake of natural calamities is formulated and periodically updated.

A land slide is a sudden collapse of a large mass of hillside. There are many different types of landslides, where not only earth, but rock, mud and debris flow down the side of a slope. Landslide may also be defined as a process involving downward movements of a part of slope forming material along a definite plane.

Landslides are ubiquitous and occur in all climates on most hilly terrains, and in lakes and oceans. Some rocks are more landslide resistant than others when landslides endanger humans and their installations, they are known as hazards, when they cause property damage and loss of life they are called disasters.

The cause of landslide can be natural or manmade. If we go on cutting the land from the hills without thinking of the consequences, we may also cause the landslides. Some major factors that act as a landslide trigger are water, Toe removal, head loading, strength reduction, earthquakes and vibration.

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