Landslides

What are landslides? They are nothing but rock, earth, or debris that flows on slopes due to gravity. They can occur on any terrain given the right conditions of soil, moisture, and the angle of slope.

There are certain causes for landslides. It could be geological, morphological, physical or human causes.

1. Geological causes include weathered and sensitive materials. Sheared or weak materials also cause landslides. Rainfall and snowfall could also be reasons for landslides.

2. Morphological reasons include slope angle, uplift, wave erosion, glacial erosion, slope loading and vegetarian change.

3. Physical causes include intense rainfall, rapid snow melt, earthquake, volcano, ground water changes etc.

4. Human causes could be excavation, loading, land use change, mining, deforestation and so on.

It is very important to prevent or avoid such landslides. Living in hazardous places should be avoided. Planting tress to stabilize the soil can prevent landslides. Steel nets that are designed to stop rocks could be put. When the earth is unsafe, construction should not be done in such areas. Water pipes should be checked for any leakage. A strong wall in front of the bottom of the slope can be built. Water pipes can be put into slope to take out the water.