Chooralmala landslide: Disaster due to climate change; 108 hectares unsafe, says study report

KALPETTA: The report by State Government-appointed John Mathai, retired scientist of National Centre for Geological Studies, says that 108 hectares of land has been rendered unsafe due to the Chooralmala Mundakkai landslide. The report was submitted to the government yesterday.

Landslides were not human-induced. There are no quarries or man-made dams within a radius of one kilometre. Climate change was the main cause of landslides.

572.8 mm of rainfall was recorded two days before the landslide. There will be landslides if rainfall is more than 300 millimeters. On the night of the 29th, it rained at the rate of 50 mm per hour. According to the report, all these rains and the water flowing through the streams led to the landslide near the epicentre.

About 2.5 million cubic meters of soil and rock fell from the epicentre. Three lakh tonnes of topsoil has been lost. A geotechnical study shows that the area was weak. Only one landslide at the epicentre occurred at Mundakkai. The water, boulders and trees from there flowed and formed dam-like structures in three places. This caused three landslides. Water, trees and rocks accumulated like dams in Vellolipara, Punjirimattom and Seethammakundu. Here the water had risen to a height of thirty meters. The structures on both sides were completely washed away.

All the structures 7.1 km away were washed away. The epicentre of origin has an inclination of 36 degrees. There were six small channels near the epicentre. The assessment was carried out with the help of satellite imagery at an interval of 100 metres on both sides of the river which was destroyed by the landslide.