The Wayanad Landslide is a recurring, catastrophic natural disaster phenomenon in the Wayanad district of Kerala, characterized by the rapid mass wasting of soil, rock, and debris down the steep slopes of the Western Ghats. The most devastating recent event was a series of landslides on July 30, 2024, in the Meppadi panchayat, including villages like Chooralmala and Mundakkai, which resulted in hundreds of casualties.
The origin of the disaster lies in the region's fragile geology, which is exacerbated by extensive anthropogenic activity. Wayanad's hills consist of shallow soil layers atop hard rock, and the area has seen a dramatic loss of 62% of its green cover between 1950 and 2018 due to expansion of tea plantations and unscientific construction. The mechanism is triggered by extremely heavy monsoon rainfall, such as the approximately 500 mm recorded in 24 hours before the August 8, 2019, Puthumala landslide. This intense rain saturates the soil, and the water flowing between the soil and the underlying rock reduces the cohesive force, causing the entire mass to slide.
The disaster is directly connected to the ignored warnings of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), or Madhav Gadgil Commission, which submitted its report in August 2011. The report had specifically cautioned against indiscriminate quarrying and construction in ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs) like Meppadi. The subsequent Kasturirangan Committee report, which proposed designating only 37% of the Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Areas, was a modification of the Gadgil report's more stringent recommendations. The core issue has not changed, as the recommendations for strict land-use restrictions in these Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ-I) were largely not implemented, leading to the recurrence of such catastrophic events.