A woman has died after her house was destroyed by a landslide in the Kharguli area of the city of Guwahati in Assam State, India, on Sunday 28 June 2020. Priyanka Boro, 21, described as a talented performing artist specialising in classical, folk, and Bihu dancing, is believed to have died instantly in the event, which happened after days of heavy rain in the area associated with the Indian Monsoon Season. Landslides
are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water
pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to
flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by
heavy rainfall.
Talented dancer Priyanka Boro, 21, of Guwahati, Assam, and the aftermath of the landslide which killed her on 28 June 2020. Northeast Now.
Guwahati is notoriously prone to landslides, particularly during the
summer monsoon season, in part due to the hilly nature of the city, but
largely due to the largely unplanned nature of many of the cities poorer
districts, with many dwellings erected illegally without any formal
planning permission, often on slopes where a thin layer of laterite clay
covers a friable, sandy soil, which is prone to collapsing downslope
when disturbed.
Monsoons
are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the
warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by
the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it
back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than
that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in
water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a
high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the
tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land
cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the
sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is
rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.
Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.
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