GSI to compile Himalayas’ landslide data

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26

With large tracts of mountain slopes in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand being unstable, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has launched a project to create a landslide compendium of north-western Himalayas.

The project will cover 16 districts in these three states. These include Chamba, Kangra, Kinnaur, Shimla and Solan in Himachal, Udhampur in J&K and Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Dehradun, Nainital, Pauri Garhwal, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal and Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand.

The compendium will be both digital and in printable versions and prepared from available data on landslide inventory, zonation and other relevant geological and cartographic information. The project has a timeframe of two years.

According to GSI officials, a task force for the preparation of a landslide hazard zonation atlas was constituted in March 2011. The task force had stressed that creation of a landslide atlas for all landslide-prone terrain in India was imperative for GSI as it is the nodal agency for landslide studies in India. 

Despite several attempts, this project could not be launched earlier by GSI due to non-availability of resources and various other landslide-related engagements. GSI has recently created a cell for geo-hazards research and management, which will now implement this programme in collaboration with the concerned landslide-prone regions of India. 

GSI has carried out different types of landslide investigations that include landslide susceptibility zonation on macro and meso scales, landslide inventory mapping and site-specific landslide investigation. The proposed compilation would contain maps of different resolutions, landslide inventory maps and varied types of textural data on landslide information.