Landslides in NE India : Lessons in caution from the Joumol tragedy
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Chongboi Haokip, MCIHort
On August 1, 2015, the hills of Chandel District in Manipur gave way after nearly a week of relentless rain. A massive landslide struck Joumol, a remote village under Khengjoi subdivision, killing twenty villagers and destroying twelve homes. Neighbouring settlements - Hollenjang, Wayang, and Tuitung - were also affected by slides.
As reported by The Sangai Express (E-Pao, August 1, 2015) and A Pandey (NDTV, August 2, 2015), the landslide remains one of the worst single-village landslides in Manipur’s history. It was a tragic event that floods cut off access, delaying rescue efforts after the Joumol landslide, one of Manipur’s worst at the time. Survivors lost their homes and farmland. The disaster highlighted the instability of the slopes in North East India. This grim event serves as a stark reminder of how fragile the slopes of North East India have become.
For the sake of the community I come from - and will always belong to, I would like to share my thoughts on enhancing land-use practices to protect our environment and prevent future disasters. With a background in Environmental Management and experience at the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency, I am deeply committed to the well-being of our community and the environment - a shared vision that can become our collective legacy for future generations.
Understanding Why Landslides Happen
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA: 2020, page 2) identifies North East India as one of the world’s most landslide-prone regions. The area’s young fold mountains, heavy monsoon rains, and frequent earthquakes make the terrain unstable. The region also lies in Seismic Zone V, India’s most active earthquake zone, where frequent tremors further loosen slopes already stressed by rain and erosion (Bansal et al., 2022).
The North Eastern States of India lie between two major tectonic zones and receive intense rainfall. Heavy rain saturates the slopes and often triggers landslides.
Combined with earthquakes and human disturbance, rainfall weakens the already fragile terrain. Nearly the entire region, from steep mountains to valley areas, faces varying levels of landslide risk each year ( Bhusan et al., 2022 ).
The Impact of Changing Land Use and Jhum Cultivation
Land use change is one of the key causes of slope instability in the North East. NITI Aayog (2018) reports that shifting cultivation, also known as jhum, is still practiced by many farming families across the hill districts. Traditional jhum farming involved clearing and burning forest patches, cultivating them briefly, and then leaving them fallow for decades to allow the forest, soil, and biodiversity to recover.
The Hidden Threat: Salt and Illicit Cultivation
Some farmers apply common salt (Sodium Chloride) to the soil to control weeds and pests. Intensive cultivation and the use of salt for weed control are harming the land, and reports note salt being seized or destroyed during anti-poppy raids. Farmers obtain large quantities of salt. They dissolve the salt in water and sprinkle it to kill the grass growing between the poppy plants (E-pao: March 27, 2021).
According to some sources, farmers use salt to control weeds and improve opium quality. They believe salt increases the plant’s strength, but it harms soil health. Monsoon rains then wash away salt and topsoil, causing severe land degradation. Using salt leads to severe soil degradation. Stavi et al. (2021) pointed out that salt reduces water infiltration and disrupts soil structure. It is in a chain - as infiltration weakens, runoff increases, and soil microbes die. During heavy rain, water cannot penetrate the damaged soil and flows down slopes, eroding topsoil and rock (FAO, 2021).
Over the years, this practice transforms living soil into a thin, crusted surface prone to failure. It is essential to recognize that many farmers often take these steps not out of ignorance/willingness, but out of desperation.
Community Awareness : The First Line of Defence
Local knowledge saves lives. Villagers often notice early signs long before a landslide happens. The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM, September 2019) recommends strengthening village-based monitoring as part of local disaster risk reduction efforts.
Communities can take several practical measures: forming land-care councils with elders, youth, and women; mapping cracks, springs, and old slide scars before the monsoon; cleaning drains and culverts before heavy rain; avoiding new homes on steep slopes or near past slide zones; planting adapted trees with deep roots along gullies and contours; replacing salt and burning practices with compost and mulching; installing simple rain gauges and sharing daily readings through local groups; and teaching slope safety and emergency drills in schools and community places. Such actions, when practiced regularly, build resilience from the ground up.
Preventing Future Tragedies
It is paramount that we avoid unwanted tragedies, such as the Joumol landslide and later incidents, like the Noney railway landslide, to reveal how disasters recur when lessons are ignored. Prevention requires constant care and cooperation. For instance, regarding horticulture and related practices, ban the use of salt in cultivation, unless it is essential for scientific studies. Soil fertility can be restored through the use of compost, biofertilizers, and cover crops. In fact, we can encourage organic farming, as it can serve as a unique branding tool for marketing purposes.
Additionally, degraded slopes can be restored through the planting of vegetation that naturally adapts to the environment and provides both environmental and economic benefits. Maintaining contour drains and terraces is also crucial for managing rainwater safely. And of course, in relocating settlements from hazard zones, and training volunteers in early warning, first aid, and response. These steps, repeated across villages, form the simplest and most effective safety net.
A Path Forward
The Joumol tragedy is both a story of grief and a guide for renewal. The lessons are clear: soil is living and must be protected; forests are infrastructure whose roots stabilize slopes better than any wall; salt destroys the natural balance; water must flow safely through proper drainage; awareness saves lives when early warning signs are heeded; and empathy matters because poverty must be met with options, not blame.
Everyone has a role to play. We must acknowledge the government’s input in solving these issues for the benefit of society. Governments must continue their efforts to support vulnerable groups through education, technical assistance, and alternative livelihoods, while communities need to collaborate with them to strengthen our own resilience. Faith groups and local leaders can help spread the message that caring for land is both a moral and practical duty.
Yes, the hills of the North East are fragile but alive. When the soil weakens, life weakens. When people care for the land, it protects them in return. The next monsoon will test this balance again. The result depends on what we do now - It might be a slow process, but we should not give up for the sake of future generations. Let us work the land, keep the land, and protect the life beneath our feet - with knowledge, care, and empathy.
Natural causes can be beyond our control, but we can and must address the human-induced factors that worsen landslide risks. Through responsible land management and community action, we can prevent tragedies and protect both lives and livelihoods. Further studies in the region are essential to build a deeper understanding of these dynamics and their impacts.
In conclusion, could we reflect on how human practices — from shifting cultivation to opium farming and the use of salt — interact with natural forces to weaken our hillsides ? How can each of us, as members of this community, take responsibility today to ensure that soil, forests, and water protect life rather than expose it to disaster? I’ll leave these questions with you to ponder.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it – Genesis 2:15.
Statement: I do not support illegal poppy cultivation. I support sustainable alternatives that strengthen society and help affected farmers in Manipur. I stand firmly behind the Manipur Government’s ‘War on Drugs’ campaign. As a strong, united community, we must work alongside Government agencies that are helping farmers abandon illegal poppy farming. We, the people of Manipur, can eliminate unlawful poppy cultivation through collective effort. I call upon the entire Manipur community to unite as one team in this fight against illegal cultivation of poppy, working together to create sustainable livelihoods and a healthier future for all.
About the author: Chongboi Haokip, MCIHort, is an international development consultant specialising in agriculture, horticulture, and trade facilitation.
On August 1, 2015, the hills of Chandel District in Manipur gave way after nearly a week of relentless rain. A massive landslide struck Joumol, a remote village under Khengjoi subdivision, killing twenty villagers and destroying twelve homes. Neighbouring settlements - Hollenjang, Wayang, and Tuitung - were also affected by slides.
As reported by The Sangai Express (E-Pao, August 1, 2015) and A Pandey (NDTV, August 2, 2015), the landslide remains one of the worst single-village landslides in Manipur’s history. It was a tragic event that floods cut off access, delaying rescue efforts after the Joumol landslide, one of Manipur’s worst at the time. Survivors lost their homes and farmland. The disaster highlighted the instability of the slopes in North East India. This grim event serves as a stark reminder of how fragile the slopes of North East India have become.
For the sake of the community I come from - and will always belong to, I would like to share my thoughts on enhancing land-use practices to protect our environment and prevent future disasters. With a background in Environmental Management and experience at the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency, I am deeply committed to the well-being of our community and the environment - a shared vision that can become our collective legacy for future generations.
Understanding Why Landslides Happen
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA: 2020, page 2) identifies North East India as one of the world’s most landslide-prone regions. The area’s young fold mountains, heavy monsoon rains, and frequent earthquakes make the terrain unstable. The region also lies in Seismic Zone V, India’s most active earthquake zone, where frequent tremors further loosen slopes already stressed by rain and erosion (Bansal et al., 2022).
The North Eastern States of India lie between two major tectonic zones and receive intense rainfall. Heavy rain saturates the slopes and often triggers landslides.
Combined with earthquakes and human disturbance, rainfall weakens the already fragile terrain. Nearly the entire region, from steep mountains to valley areas, faces varying levels of landslide risk each year ( Bhusan et al., 2022 ).
The Impact of Changing Land Use and Jhum Cultivation
Land use change is one of the key causes of slope instability in the North East. NITI Aayog (2018) reports that shifting cultivation, also known as jhum, is still practiced by many farming families across the hill districts. Traditional jhum farming involved clearing and burning forest patches, cultivating them briefly, and then leaving them fallow for decades to allow the forest, soil, and biodiversity to recover.
The Hidden Threat: Salt and Illicit Cultivation
Some farmers apply common salt (Sodium Chloride) to the soil to control weeds and pests. Intensive cultivation and the use of salt for weed control are harming the land, and reports note salt being seized or destroyed during anti-poppy raids. Farmers obtain large quantities of salt. They dissolve the salt in water and sprinkle it to kill the grass growing between the poppy plants (E-pao: March 27, 2021).
According to some sources, farmers use salt to control weeds and improve opium quality. They believe salt increases the plant’s strength, but it harms soil health. Monsoon rains then wash away salt and topsoil, causing severe land degradation. Using salt leads to severe soil degradation. Stavi et al. (2021) pointed out that salt reduces water infiltration and disrupts soil structure. It is in a chain - as infiltration weakens, runoff increases, and soil microbes die. During heavy rain, water cannot penetrate the damaged soil and flows down slopes, eroding topsoil and rock (FAO, 2021).
Over the years, this practice transforms living soil into a thin, crusted surface prone to failure. It is essential to recognize that many farmers often take these steps not out of ignorance/willingness, but out of desperation.
Community Awareness : The First Line of Defence
Local knowledge saves lives. Villagers often notice early signs long before a landslide happens. The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM, September 2019) recommends strengthening village-based monitoring as part of local disaster risk reduction efforts.
Communities can take several practical measures: forming land-care councils with elders, youth, and women; mapping cracks, springs, and old slide scars before the monsoon; cleaning drains and culverts before heavy rain; avoiding new homes on steep slopes or near past slide zones; planting adapted trees with deep roots along gullies and contours; replacing salt and burning practices with compost and mulching; installing simple rain gauges and sharing daily readings through local groups; and teaching slope safety and emergency drills in schools and community places. Such actions, when practiced regularly, build resilience from the ground up.
Preventing Future Tragedies
It is paramount that we avoid unwanted tragedies, such as the Joumol landslide and later incidents, like the Noney railway landslide, to reveal how disasters recur when lessons are ignored. Prevention requires constant care and cooperation. For instance, regarding horticulture and related practices, ban the use of salt in cultivation, unless it is essential for scientific studies. Soil fertility can be restored through the use of compost, biofertilizers, and cover crops. In fact, we can encourage organic farming, as it can serve as a unique branding tool for marketing purposes.
Additionally, degraded slopes can be restored through the planting of vegetation that naturally adapts to the environment and provides both environmental and economic benefits. Maintaining contour drains and terraces is also crucial for managing rainwater safely. And of course, in relocating settlements from hazard zones, and training volunteers in early warning, first aid, and response. These steps, repeated across villages, form the simplest and most effective safety net.
A Path Forward
The Joumol tragedy is both a story of grief and a guide for renewal. The lessons are clear: soil is living and must be protected; forests are infrastructure whose roots stabilize slopes better than any wall; salt destroys the natural balance; water must flow safely through proper drainage; awareness saves lives when early warning signs are heeded; and empathy matters because poverty must be met with options, not blame.
Everyone has a role to play. We must acknowledge the government’s input in solving these issues for the benefit of society. Governments must continue their efforts to support vulnerable groups through education, technical assistance, and alternative livelihoods, while communities need to collaborate with them to strengthen our own resilience. Faith groups and local leaders can help spread the message that caring for land is both a moral and practical duty.
Yes, the hills of the North East are fragile but alive. When the soil weakens, life weakens. When people care for the land, it protects them in return. The next monsoon will test this balance again. The result depends on what we do now - It might be a slow process, but we should not give up for the sake of future generations. Let us work the land, keep the land, and protect the life beneath our feet - with knowledge, care, and empathy.
Natural causes can be beyond our control, but we can and must address the human-induced factors that worsen landslide risks. Through responsible land management and community action, we can prevent tragedies and protect both lives and livelihoods. Further studies in the region are essential to build a deeper understanding of these dynamics and their impacts.
In conclusion, could we reflect on how human practices — from shifting cultivation to opium farming and the use of salt — interact with natural forces to weaken our hillsides ? How can each of us, as members of this community, take responsibility today to ensure that soil, forests, and water protect life rather than expose it to disaster? I’ll leave these questions with you to ponder.
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it – Genesis 2:15.
Statement: I do not support illegal poppy cultivation. I support sustainable alternatives that strengthen society and help affected farmers in Manipur. I stand firmly behind the Manipur Government’s ‘War on Drugs’ campaign. As a strong, united community, we must work alongside Government agencies that are helping farmers abandon illegal poppy farming. We, the people of Manipur, can eliminate unlawful poppy cultivation through collective effort. I call upon the entire Manipur community to unite as one team in this fight against illegal cultivation of poppy, working together to create sustainable livelihoods and a healthier future for all.
About the author: Chongboi Haokip, MCIHort, is an international development consultant specialising in agriculture, horticulture, and trade facilitation.