Mountain living may not be safe for very long. A geologist who conducted a survey of the village on the orders of the district administration said that the first village of the Darma valley, namely Dar, is gradually sliding down the slope due to the deterioration of land surface on which it is situated. ‘At least 35 families from the village of 150 must be moved immediately as the houses they live in are sliding down the slope,’ said Pradeep Kumar, who led a group of geologists on a survey of the village recently.
According to him, the cause of the downward sliding of the village is the widening of the road between Sobla and Tidang, as well as underground water bodies making their way downward, causing the land surface beneath the village to deteriorate. As a result of being buried under thousands of tons of landslide debris about 200 years ago, these water bodies have gone underground and are eroding further downwards, weakening the upper layers of soil further, Kumar said.
Having no hard rocks beneath the village’s soil, the village is situated on landslide debris and has weak soil. Around 200 villages in the Dharchula and Munsyari sub-divisions are located on debris that has accumulated following landslides in the surrounding hills over centuries, therefore highly susceptible to landslides.
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Gram Pradhan Savita Devi of Dar village complained to the administration of sloping houses in his village. As a result of her complaint, the district administration sent a team of geologists led by Pradeep Kumar to the village for a survey. A calamity could strike at any moment, she warned, so families in endangered areas should immediately move to safe places.
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