Wayanad 13th most landslide-prone district of India: ISRO report

On Tuesday, multiple massive landslides had hit Meppadi and Chooramala areas at Wayanad in Kerala, killing over a hundred while several are still reportedly missing.

Kerala has been experiencing mammoth losses to property and significant casualties every monsoon season since the devastating floods of August 2018. The Isro’s Atlas underscored occurrence of landslide events in Kerala, especially post 2018.

The year-wise number of landslide events were 5,191 in 2018, 756 in 2019, nine in 2020, and 29 in 2021. In 2022, when Kerala recorded 30 per cent below normal rainfall, there was a relative drop in the casualties due to rainfall and related incidents in the state.

All through July, the southern state experienced continuous heavy rainfall in multiple spells. According to the rainfall data maintained by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Wayanad’s rainfall stood at 436.1mm (-38 per cent from normal) rainfall on June 30, exactly a month since Wayanad had received 1,349 mm (-15 per cent of normal) rainfall.

The atlas was prepared based on landslides recorded in the country during 1998-2022. It stated that Kerala ranked sixth among the most landslide-affected states after Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. During 1998-2022, Kerala had experienced 6,039 landslide events.

Deaths in India due to floods, heavy rainfall and landslides

Source : Statement on Climate of India (2020, 2021 and 2022)

Kerala’s ten districts most vulnerable to landslides