Burliar Landslides were Waiting to Happen: NDC

Ooty: As heavy rains pounded the Nilgiris since Sunday afternoon after a day’s lull, the Nilgiri Documentation Centre(NDC) has appealed to the state disaster management wing and officials in the Nilgiris and Coimbatore to gather more data about landslide history and vigilance in the area.

NDC director D. Venugopal said that the Burliar landslides on the Coonoor-Mettupalayam highway is a typical case of lack of landslide knowledge and vigilance by the current disaster management officials. Information shows that the landslides were waiting to happen for a long time and preventive measures could have mitigated, if not avoided the tragedy.

The Burliar slopes are one of the steepest and most ancient landmasses in the Nilgiris. The slopes, meaning Pebble River, are the habitation of the indigenous Irulas and Kurumbas, who have been living in harmony with nature for thousands of years. When the Mettupalayam-Coonoor road was constructed, Burliar at the Nilgiris-Coimbatore border, became a way station for road travellers. After the advent of the railways, its usage gradually declined till, after Independence, it became a busy halting place for vehicles.

The ecology of Burliar began to be disturbed after 1996-97 when outside commercial interests intruded into the area with fanciful projects. As a consequence, the area suffered heavy damages to infrastructure in 1998, 2009 and 2015. Scholars have been intensely researching Nilgiri landslides ever since the district encountered landslides in 1978. However, successive administrations never heeded the findings or warnings of these vital reports.

In 2012 and 2013, two scientists carried out an in-depth study on the hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment for rainfall-induced landslides in transportation corridors from Burliar to Coonoor. This is the only detailed study so far available for risk assessment landslides in the Nilgiris. The direct and indirect risk as well as the rainfall threshold for different slopes was developed.

Had the officials dealing with disaster management in the state been aware of the findings and recommendations of such reports, the loss of lives and damages to property in the area could have been avoided, he added.

As part of the disaster management during monsoons, the state disaster management department and officials in the Nilgiris and Coimbatore should gather the findings and suggestions of the landslide studies being made in the district and share them with the public for better preparedness, he advocated.