8 buildings collapse in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu
At least eight vacant buildings crumbled under a landslide that took down a hillside in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district on Thursday.
At least eight vacant buildings crumbled under a landslide that took down a hillside in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district on Thursday, offering yet more evidence that the devastating effects of the climate crisis, torrential spells of rain and the geologically active Himalayan region were combining to wreak havoc in the region.
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The buildings Kullu’s Anni town were vacant because they had developed cracks and were declared unsafe last week. As a result, when they collapsed on Thursday, there were no deaths, though at least 238 people have died in climate-related tragedies since the onset of the monsoon in Himachal Pradesh this year.
”These buildings were already in vulnerable condition following the heavy rainfall on August 15… There were no casualties… I have been told that three to four more buildings are in vulnerable condition…,” Kullu additional district magistrate Ashwini Kumar told news agency ANI.
Anni sub-divisional magistrate Naresh Verma said around seven to eight buildings housing residential units, shops, banks and other commercial establishments developed cracks four to five days ago. The buildings were declared unsafe and vacated recently, he added.
Verma also said that an assessment of the damages was being done and some other unsafe buildings -- along National Highway 305 in Anni -- were also evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Visuals showed massive mounds of earth and debris crashing into the ground from the hillside, taking down with them several buildings.
The hill state has recorded three major spells of heavy rains this monsoon. The first on July 9 and 10 led to large-scale destruction in Mandi and Kullu districts. Shimla and Solan districts were hit during the second spell on August 14 and 15, and Shimla city suffered heavy damage in the third spell on Tuesday night.
Shimla also recorded three major landslides – Shiv temple in Summer Hill, Fagli and Krishna Nagar – this month. With the recovery of one more body on Thursday, the loss of lives due to the landslides rose to 25, according to Shimla superintendent of police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi.
The cumulative rainfall in the mountain state this year is the highest in a decade, and the intensity of the showers is also more acute than 2013. That fury of the climate crisis, combined with unchecked and illegal construction on what is a young and geologically active range of mountains has wreaked havoc across the state this monsoon.
On August 18, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu recently declared Himachal Pradesh as a “natural calamity affected area”, and on Thursday said that the entire state suffered losses of ₹12,000 crore so far.
“The state government is making earnest efforts to restore the roads and bring normalcy; until then the concerned district administrations have been directed to make adequate arrangements for the boarding and lodging of those affected at no cost,” he said in a statement.
Union minister Anurag Thakur, who is from Himachal, assured all forms of possible assistance from the Centre to the hill state.
Though there were no showers in the state on Thursday, the local weather office issued a yellow warning of heavy rains for Friday and predicted a wet spell till August 30.
The incessant rains and subsequent floods have made settlements along streams and water bodies particularly vulnerable. Most of the buildings damaged in landslides in Shimla were built on the path of a stream.
Two people were killed and eight houses collapsed in Shimla’s Krishna Nagar last week. In neighbouring Solan, at least 30 houses were buried under a landslide in Shamti village.
Amid increasing concerns over the safety of residents and infrastructure due to recurring landslides in Shimla, the government recently established a five-member committee to study the causes and effects of the disaster in the region.
In its preliminary report, the panel said the frequent landslides were due to loose soil strata.
“There are different factors for the sinking of land... to a large extent, soil strata are responsible...” one of the panel members said, seeking anonymity.
Hundreds of travellers remain stranded in relief camps after landslides blocked the road to Mandi district. Officials said stranded people on the Kallu-Mandi highway were shifted to relief camps set up in hotels, rest houses and residential homes at Pandoh, Aut and Bajaura.
Sukhu said the state government’s debt burden mounted to ₹75,000 crore and it could take a decade to rebuild the damaged infrastructure without the Centre’s help.
Experts called for a shift in policies. “Geological factors, including soil stability, water flow patterns, and terrain characteristics, must be considered while planning for urban development. Governments and local authorities must collaborate with geological experts to create sustainable urban spaces,” said SS Randhawa, principal scientific officer of Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environment.
