Reading the mountain before we build on it |
Jammu and Kashmir is often described in poetry, but its mountains also speak in a language of numbers. One recent set of numbers deserves the attention of every planner, engineer, farmer and traveller who cares for this land. In August 2026, the journal Scientific Reports, part of Nature Portfolio, published a study on landslide risk in our region. The paper is titled GIS based multi criteria landslide susceptibility assessment in the northwestern Himalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It was led by Prof Avtar Singh Jasrotia and researchers from the Department of Geology at the University of Jammu, and it appeared on August 28. The study mapped 42,950.43 square kilometres of mountainous terrain across Jammu and Kashmir. The researchers looked at slope, rock type, rainfall, rivers, land use and the distance of each place from roads, and then asked a simple question. Where is the ground most likely to give way?
The answer was clear. About 28.08 per cent of the mapped area, or roughly 12,062 square kilometres, falls in the high or very high landslide susceptibility zones. In plain words, more than one fourth of the mapped land needs extra care before any digging or building begins. Proximity to roads was found among the important variables in the modelling, which means that slopes disturbed by road construction deserve special attention.
It is important to read this........