Abstract
Rainfall-induced landslides on steep slopes are potential hazards to life and property. The state of Kerala in India is witnessing unprecedented death and damage since last 3 years due to landslides triggered by heavy rainfall. In this paper, we present a cause-impact analysis of landslides that occurred due to the monsoon rainfall in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. We have created an event-based landslide inventory post-rainfall season for the entire state and then selected six major landslides for detailed analysis. Event-based landslide inventory maps are prepared from Earth observation satellite data such as Resourcesat-2, 2A, Cartosat-2S, WorldView-2, Pleiades-1A and 1B, SPOT-6 and 7 and Sentinel-2 acquired before and after the rainfall events. Then, rainfall data were analysed to find out the role of daily and antecedent rainfalls on landslide trigger. Finally, we have carried out numerical debris flow modeling to characterise landslides and assess the impact. Our results show that landslides are triggered by antecedent rainfall of variable durations and are mostly debris flow type that has followed the channel path. The runout length and lateral spreads are controlled by variable frictional parameters of the slope material. Furthermore, reactivation at the crown region is also noticed in few cases that need to be monitored.
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Acknowledgements
This paper is the outcome of the work carried out under the disaster management support (DMS) program of ISRO. We thank Dr. Raj Kumar, Director, NRSC for support to this work. We thank former Director, NRSC Shri Santanu Chowdhury for his support and guidance to this work. We would like to thank Dr. PVN Rao, Dy. Director, RSAA, for his suggestions during the project review. We would also like to thank the International Charter Space and Major Disasters (ICSMD) and its affiliated organisations for sharing satellite images promptly for the generation of value-added products during post-disaster damage assessment. We thank Dr. N Aparna, Group Director, NDC, NRSC and her team for providing the IRS satellite data. Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Shantanu Bhatwadekar, Director, EDPO, ISRO Hq, Dr. G Srinivasa Rao, Associate Director, EDPO, ISRO Hq and Dr. K H V Durga Rao, Group Head, DMSG, NRSC for their active support to this study. Thanks to Shri Arul Raj, I/c Group Head, Bhuvan and his team for hosting the landslide value-added products in the web portal. We gratefully acknowledge IMD and KSDMA for providing the rainfall data and landslide susceptibility map of Kerala.
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Jain, N., Martha, T.R., Khanna, K. et al. Major landslides in Kerala, India, during 2018–2020 period: an analysis using rainfall data and debris flow model. Landslides 18, 3629–3645 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01746-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01746-x