One person has died and two more were injured in a landslide on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway in Udhampur District of Jammu and Kashmir State, India, on Friday 26 March 2021. The deceased has been named as Muhammad Afroz Alam, the driver of an earthmover, who died on the spot, when his vehicle was knocked from the road into a valley below.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is notoriously prone to landslides, particularly during the region's monsoon season, which lasts from July to September, bringing with it extremely high levels of rainfall. 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. However, on this occasion it appears that the landslide may have been triggered by human activity associated with a road-widening scheme which is intended to broaden the highway from its current two lanes to four.
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