Landslides incidents rise as monsoon envelops Uttara Kannada district

Bhatkal, 04 July 2022 [Fik/News Sources]: With monsoon rain enveloping the entire Uttara Kannada district, landslides have been reported from Honnavar Road and Anshi Ghats. Saturday morning witnessed a landslide on Honnavar-Karwar Main Road which was cleared by the authorities.

This is being termed as a man-made incident due to tampering with slopes of the hillocks for the ongoing road project. The same night witnessed huge rocks tumbling down from the top of Anshi Ghats connecting Karwar and Belgaum Road. The rocks blocked the road for some time. Though the road has been cleared but fear of more landslides looms large.

"Anshi Ghats have been witnessing landslides for the last two years, although the region did not have any history of landslides. Maybe there is too much water accumulated on the top," said Dinakar, a native of Anshi.

Basavraj, a native of Ulavi, recalled the horrors of a landslide last year saying, "We all had a very difficult time when there was a massive landslide last year. We are totally dependent on Karwar for our daily needs. We have sometime walked all the way to Anshi Ghats and reached Kadra junction to board a bus. We had to travel for more than 15 km. We only hope that the nightmare will not return to haunt us."

Deputy Commissioner (Uttara Kannada) Mullai Muhilan has said that Anshi Ghats has been considered as the most vulnerable for landslides and added that a thorough study will be conducted to ascertain the reasons behind the landslide.

Kodagu is safe, say officials

With tremors in Kodagu leading to fear among the people that earthquakes and landslides could recur, the District Disaster Management Authority has said that there is nothing to worry about. The officials said they had not received any such reports from any of the scientific organizations till date.