After the Landslides: Building Safer Hill Communities

Why this report

The landslides that struck parts of Wayanad in July 2024 were among the deadliest disasters in Kerala’s recent history, and they followed other serious landslides in the hill districts in earlier monsoons. Each event prompted grief, relief efforts and promises of change. This report asks what has actually changed, and what still needs to.

It draws together the work of three CRGD research verticals: Environment and Disaster Management, Urbanisation, and Agriculture and Rural Development.

Structure of the report

1. Understanding the hazard. What makes slopes in the Western Ghats unstable, and how intense rainfall, soil, geology and human modification interact.
2. Who lives in harm’s way. How settlements, plantations and infrastructure have grown on and below vulnerable slopes, and why.
3. Warning and evacuation. How early warning systems work, where they have succeeded and where they have failed.
4. Rebuilding. The choices facing families and governments after a disaster: where to rebuild, how, and with what support.
5. Governing land use. The laws and plans that regulate construction and quarrying on slopes, and their enforcement.
6. Voices from affected communities. What survivors, local officials and volunteers say they need.

Key recommendations

• Produce and publish detailed landslide susceptibility maps at the level of local government wards.
• Tie rainfall based warnings to clear, pre agreed evacuation triggers at the community level.
• Require geological assessment before significant construction on slopes above a defined gradient.
• Give displaced families real choice in rehabilitation, with livelihood support as well as housing.
• Train and equip local volunteers, who are always the first responders.

[Placeholder publication. This sample shows the structure of a special report. Replace with real CRGD work before publishing.]