Natural and Manmade

Disasters
Natural causes include:
 Saturation of slope material from rainfall or seepage,
 Vibrations caused by earthquakes,
 volcanic eruptions, Or
 undercutting of cliffs and banks by waves or rivers, Tsunami etc.

Human activities may include:

The removal of vegetation,
 interference with or changes to natural drainage,
 Leaking pipes (water, sewer),
 The modification of slopes by construction of roads, railways or
buildings, mining activities,
 Vibrations from heavy traffic or blasting; and excavation or
displacement of rocks.
 Landslides
A landslide is the movement of a mass of rock, debris or earth
down a slope. All landslides have two things in common - they are
the result of failure of the soil and rock materials that make up the
hill slope and they are driven by gravity. They can vary in size
from a single boulder in a rock fall or topple to tens of millions of
cubic metres of material in a debris avalanche. Landslides can be
triggered by natural causes or by human activity.
Date/year Location Damage
January Nashri, Jammu Active slide from 1953. Every year road and communication network is
1982 & Kashmir damaged.
March 1989 Himachal Nathpa, 500m road section is frequently damaged during successive year
Pradesh
October Nilgris 36 people killed and several injured. Several buildings and communication
1990 network damaged
July 1991 Assam 300 people killed, road and buildings damaged, Millions of rupees
November Nilgiris Road network and buildings damaged, Rs.5 million damage estimate
1992
June 1993 Aizawal Four persons were buried
July 1993 Itanagar 25 people buried alive 2 km road damaged
Arunachal
Pradesh
August 1993 Kalimpong, 40 people killed, heavy loss of property
West Bengal
August 1993 Kohima, 200 houses destroyed, 500 people died, about5km road stretch was damaged
Nagaland
November Nilgris 40 people killed, property worth several lakhs damaged
1993
January Kashmir National Highway 1A severely damaged
1994
June 1994 Varundh ghat, 20 people killed, breaching of ghat road damaged to the extent of 1km. At
Konkan Coast several places
May 1995 Aizwal Mizoram 25 people killed road severely damaged
June 1995 Malori Jammu 6 persons killed, NH 1A damaged
September Kullu, HP 22 persons killed and several injured about 1 km road destroyed
1995
14,August Okhimath 69 people killed
1998
 Incidences of Landslides in India

Region Incidences of Landslides

Himalayas High to very high
North-eastern Hills High
Western Ghats and the Nilgiris Modern to high
Cattle lost Low
Vindhayachal Low

Landslides Zonation Mopping is a modern method to identify landslides prone areas and has been
in use in India since 1980s. The major parameters that call for evaluation are as follows:

• Slope-Magnitude, length and Direction

• Soil thickness
• Relative relief
• Land use
• Drainage- pattern and density
• Landslide affected population
 Landslide types

Once a landslide is triggered along a plane of weakness, material is transported by

various mechanisms including sliding, flowing or falling.

The rate of landslide movement varies from extremely slow in landslides moving at
only millimetres to centimetres per year to a sudden and extremely rapid (metres per
second) avalanche of debris. Sudden and rapid events are the most dangerous
because of the lack of warning, and the speed at which they can travel down the
slope and the force of impact.

Distance travelled by landslide material, varies greatly, from a few centimetres to

many kilometres depending on the volumes of debris, mud and water flow going
down river valleys.
 Common landslide types

SLIDE CREEP SLUMP

TOPPLE FALL FLOW

 What causes a flood?
A number of factors can contribute to that imbalance, including:

Heavy, intense rainfall

Run-off from a deep snow cover
Over-saturated soil, when the ground can't hold anymore water.
Frozen soil
High river, stream or reservoir levels caused by unusually large amounts of rain
Ice jams in rivers
Urbanization, or lots of buildings and parking lots

There are two basic types of floods. In a regular river flood, water slowly climbs
over the edges of a river. The more dangerous type, a flash flood, occurs when a
wall of water quickly sweeps over an area.
Floods depend on many things such as Climate, nature of the
Collecting basin, nature of the streams, soil, vegetative cover,
amount of snow melt and over all rainfall.

Annually, the Indian land mass receives on precipitation of 88-89

cm with very high variation from region to region. In the state of
Rajasthan, the rainfall is almost nil whereas in the state of
Meghalaya, an average rainfall of 1000 cm occurred every year.

So this variation in the occurrence of rainfall makes the country

prone towards the situations like floods and droughts
Floods
Effects of floods

The effect of a flood can be catastrophic. All these things can happen:

-Broken roads and railway lines.

-Damage to furniture and objects in houses.
-Wrecked houses.
-Crushed crops.
-The electricity and gas supplies are cut off.
-Diseases.
-People and animals are killed.
-Ornaments can be smashed.
-Electrical items like computers and TV's can be damaged.
-Carpets start to disintegrate.
-Property gets washed away.
-Trees fall over.
-Cars get smashed.
-Bridges break.
Sandbags to protect property Raising banks before a flood

                                          
     wall
Flood A floodway
 Tsunami
 What is a tsunami?
• A tsunami is a series of waves with a long
wavelength and period (time between
crests). Time
between crests of the wave can vary from
a few minutes to over an hour.
• Tsunamis are often incorrectly called tidal
waves; they have no relation to the daily
ocean tides.
• Tsunami (soo-NAH-mee) is a Japanese
word meaning harbour wave.
• Tsunamis can occur at any time of day or
night.
 How are tsunamis generated?
• Tsunamis are generated by any large,
impulsive displacement of the sea bed
level(Fig.1).
• Earthquakes generate tsunamis by vertical
movement of the sea floor. If the sea floor
movement is horizontal, a tsunami is not
generated. Earthquakes of M > 6.5 are
critical for tsunami generation.
• Tsunamis are also triggered by landslides
into or under the water surface, and can
be generated by volcanic activity and
meteorite impacts.
 As waves approach shore formation on shore
they slow down, the waves
lengths shorten and become
higher

Tsunami wave train

formation

Submarine fault movement, landslide or Volcanic activity

Wave train of Tsunami

 How often do tsunamis occur?
• On the average, there are two
tsunamis per year somewhere in the
world which cause damage near the
source.
• Approximately every 15 years a
destructive, Pacific-wide tsunami
occurs.
• The destructive tsunami on Dec
26th, 2004 on the Indian Coast
seems to have occurred for the first
time in the history.
Indian Ocean Tsunami of Dec.26th, 2004
 How big is a tsunami?
• Tsunamis range in size from centimeters to over
30 m height. Most tsunamis are less than 3 m in
height.
• In deep water (greater than 200 m), tsunamis are
rarely over 1m high and will not be noticed by
ships due to their long period (time between
crests).
• As tsunamis propagate into shallow water, the
wave height can increase by over 10 times.
• Tsunami heights can vary greatly along a coast.
The waves are amplified by certain shoreline and
bathymetric (sea floor) features.
• A large tsunami can flood land up to more than
1.5 km from the coast.
• The force of some tsunamis is enormous. Large
rocks weighing several tons along with boats and
other debris can be moved inland hundreds of
feet by tsunami wave activity. Homes and other
buildings are destroyed. All this material and
 Protection from Risk of Tsunami

• Know the height of your street above sea level and the
distance of your street from the coast or other high-risk
waters.
Evacuation orders may be based on these numbers. Also
find out the height above sea level and the distance from
the coast of outbuildings that house animals, as well as
pastures or corrals.

• Use a Weather Radio or stay tuned to a local radio or

television station to keep informed of local watches and
warnings.

• You should avoid building or living in buildings within 200

meters of the high tide coastline.
These areas are more likely to experience damage from
tsunamis, strong winds, or coastal storms.

• Have an engineer check your home and advise about ways

to make it more resistant to tsunami water. There may be
ways to divert waves away from your property. Improperly
built walls could make your situation worse. Consult with a