Landslide of Rishikesh‐Badrinath National Highway at Devprayag, District Tehri Garhwal, Uttaranchal (India)

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the landslide of Rishikesh‐Badrinath National Highway in Uttaranchal, India.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses causes, mitigation and preventive measures in and around the township of Devprayag.Findings – Apart from the major landslide events (such as Malpa and Okhimath in 1998) most landslides go unnoticed because the losses in most of the events are not great enough to catch the media attention. These are therefore often considered as stray events but the cumulative losses from these events are significant. Geological and tectonic evolution of the Himalayan terrain has resulted in large‐scale metamorphism, thrusting, faulting, folding and deformation of the rocks that have resulted in a terrain that is full of rocks that are highly fractured, jointed and sheared and thus in a fragile state. High relative relief, steep slopes, concentrated rainfall with high rates of surface flow together with the ongoing tectonism make the region highly ...