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Monsoon Rains Trigger Fatal Landslides and Flooding Across Kerala

Source:Indian Express ↗

Why It Matters

The frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall and subsequent landslides in Kerala, is a key focus area for UPSC. It connects physical geography (monsoons) with environmental ecology (Western Ghats vulnerability) and disaster management (landslide risk strategies), all of which are frequently tested in GS-1 and GS-3 Mains.

Summary

Heavy rainfall in Kerala has resulted in significant loss of life, with six reported dead and another six missing. This extreme weather event highlights the broader issues of climate change altering monsoon behaviors and triggering disasters like landslides and floods. The recurring nature of such incidents in ecologically sensitive zones like the Western Ghats points to an urgent need for enhanced disaster preparedness, hazard zonation, and sustainable land-use management.

Key Points

  • Heavy rainfall has battered Kerala, resulting in at least six deaths and leaving another six missing.
  • The event underscores the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and changing rainfall patterns during the Indian monsoon.
  • Landslides and urban flooding have become critical concerns in the region, particularly due to ecological vulnerability in the Western Ghats.
  • Effective disaster management strategies, including hazard zonation mapping and robust early warning systems, are essential to mitigate such climate-induced disasters.

Important Terms

National Landslide Risk Management Strategy

A comprehensive framework launched in 2019 by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) targeting landslide hazard zonation, monitoring, early warning systems, awareness, capacity building, and engineering stabilization to mitigate landslide impacts across India.

UPSC context

GS Paper III: Disaster Management. Key strategy for mitigating landslide disasters, highly relevant for disaster risk reduction and mitigation answers.

Source
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

A specialized Indian agency established in 2006 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, responsible for executing professional, rapid response, search, and rescue operations during natural and man-made disasters.

UPSC context

GS Paper III: Disaster Management. Tests India's institutional disaster response framework, rescue operations, and administrative coordination during crises.

Source
India Meteorological Department (IMD)

India's principal government agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting, seismology, and providing early warning services for extreme climatic disasters like cyclones and monsoons.

UPSC context

GS Papers I & III: Geography & Disaster Management. Tests meteorological phenomena, monsoon tracking, and early warning systems for disaster preparedness.

Source

Prelims Trap

The Western Ghats accounts for the highest share of landslide occurrences in India due to intense southwest monsoon rains.

False. The Northwest Himalayas (66.5%) and Northeast Himalayas (18.8%) account for the vast majority of India's landslides, compared to just 14.7% for the Western Ghats.

Static Concepts Connected

Environment & Ecology

How did Kasturirangan differ from the Gadgil report on Western Ghats?

  • Gadgil Committee: Recommended declaring the entire Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) with strict regulatory zones.
  • Kasturirangan Committee: Scaled down the ESA to just 37% (60,000 sq km) of the Ghats to balance conservation with development.
  • Landscape Approach: Differentiated human-dominated 'cultural landscapes' from high-biodiversity 'natural landscapes' to ease restrictions.
Disaster Management

Which agencies manage landslide mapping and risk assessment in India?

  • GSI: The nodal agency for landslides; executes the macro-scale National Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (NLSM) Programme.
  • ISRO (NRSC): Publishes the Landslide Atlas of India, providing a geospatial inventory of past landslides and district risk ranking.
  • NDMA: Formulates the overarching National Landslide Risk Management Strategy and early warning protocols.

Cross-Topic Patterns

  • Climate Change + Localized Geohazards

    Warming Arabian Sea temperatures are triggering micro-climatic shifts, leading to intense short-duration rainfall (mini-cloudbursts) that directly precipitate fatal landslides.

  • Ecology + Federal Friction

    The prolonged delay in finalizing the Western Ghats ESA notification highlights center-state friction over balancing ecological preservation with regional economic interests.

Expect a multi-statement question mapping NRSC Landslide Atlas data against Western Ghats' ecological zones and Arabian Sea warming in 2026.

Linked PYQs · 4

Linked PYQs · 4

  • 2024MainsGS3

    Flooding in urban areas is an emerging climate-induced disaster. Discuss the causes of this disaster. Mention the features of two such major floods in the last two decades in India. Describe the policies and frameworks in India that aim at tackling such floods.

  • 2019MainsGS3

    Disaster preparedness is the first step in any disaster management process. Explain how hazard zonation mapping will help disaster mitigation in the case of landslides.

  • 2021MainsGS3

    Describe the various causes and the effects of landslides. Mention the important components of the National Landslide Risk Management Strategy.

  • 2015MainsGS1

    How far do you agree that the behaviour of the Indian monsoon has been changing due to humanizing landscapes? Discuss.