Landslide, snowfall in Kinnaur leave hundreds stranded; roads remain blocked!

Kinnaur, January 04: Landslides at Malling Nullah near Naco in Kinnaur district have blocked the Kinnaur-Kaza national highway on Monday, leaving hundreds of people stranded on site. The road link of Kaza subdivision in Lahaul-Spiti district and several villages of Kinnaur district have been cut off from the other parts due to the landslide that followed snowfall.

 

While the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is trying to remove the debris to clear the Kinnaur-Kaza road, hundreds of vehicles have been stranded on both sides of the road due to the landslide, as revealed by the official. Kinnaur district is prone to such landslides, it being at foot rent of the Himalayas.

 

Earlier this month, a couple of people had to breath last after serving injuries hit by boulders during a landslide amid heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur. In 1989 a major landslide destroyed the link road to the village of Sapni in Kinnaur. Although aware of the risk of further landslide activity, the community has campaigned successfully for reconstruction of the road.

 

 

Decisions of this kind take place at the local level, through village institutions and open debate, with good feedback between villages and district government authorities. In this way a balance is established between meeting more immediate needs and taking acceptable risks. Using the landslide as a case study, the incident explores the issue of 'acceptable risk', and looks at the existing strategy for risk and disaster reduction in the district.