Cost assessment of losses due to recent reactivation of Kaliasaur landslide on National Highway 58 in Garhwal Himalaya

Indervir Negi (), Kishor Kumar, Anil Kathait and P. Prasad

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2013, vol. 68, issue 2, 914 pages

Abstract: National Highway (NH) 58 is one of the important and the major lifelines, which connects Uttarakhand state with rest of the country and linked with its socioeconomic progress. Uttarakhand, being one of the major tourist and pilgrimage hubs of the country, highways are preferred to be consistently maintained and trafficable. However, due to frequent landslide occurrences, particularly during monsoon months (July to September), the highway is poorly maintained. There are hundreds of landslides along the NH 58 starting from Rishikesh (the foot of the Garhwal Himalaya) to Badrinath, the holy shrine of India covering a distance of 320 km. Many landslides are historic, 4–5 decades old and recurring every year during monsoon. Kaliasaur landslide (147 km), Pakhi landslide (250 km), Tangni landslide (254 km), Patalganga landslide (256 km), and Lambagarh landslide (302 km) are a few among the critical ones. Kaliasaur landslide that is one of the most critical landslides recurring for over 9 decades at 147 km on National Highway 58 (from Haridwar) has been selected for the study. It has reportedly occurred first time in 1920 and since then recurring at regular intervals, causing huge socioeconomic losses involving both direct and indirect costs. Previous records of any attempt to estimate the direct (rehabilitation cost, cost on prevention and control) or indirect cost (expenses due to detouring, cost of productive time loss, loss of tourism, and loss in business) have not been found. As a result, the accurate economical impact of landslide on society is very roughly estimated. Even if the estimates of indirect losses are roughly estimated, added with some direct losses will provide the basis for developing the right strategies for proper mitigation and management of landslides. In this paper, an effort is made, first time, to examine the effects of Kaliasaur landslide on socioeconomics of the region. Since the direct losses on property damaged could not be estimated due to lack of recorded documentation, this study mainly focuses on the indirect losses on detouring during the damage/blockage of the highway and some significant direct losses such as restoration work, loss of lives, and damage of vehicles. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Keywords: Socioeconomic impact; Unit cost estimation method; Indirect landslide losses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-013-0663-5

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