The July 30 devastating landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad that claimed over 350 lives was due to a “burst of rainfall” triggered by human-induced climate change, claimed a study conducted by the World Weather Attribution (WWA).
The scientific study, carried out by a group of 24 researchers from India, US, UK, Sweden, Netherlands and Malaysia, further said that more than 140 mm of rain occurred in a single day in Wayanad – equivalent to nearly a quarter of annual rainfall in London – on soil that were highly saturated following seasonal monsoon showers over two months across Kerala.
What can Kerala do to save itself from future landslides?
The researchers, who conducted the study, pointed out that extreme events like this are expected to occur about “once every 50 years” under the current global warming of 1.2 degree celsius.
People living in northern Kerala can save themselves from falling prey to more floods and landslides in future by “minimising deforestation and quarrying, while improving early warning and evacuation systems”.
Kerala received third heaviest one-day rainfall triggering deadly landslides
Wayanad received the third heaviest single-day rainfall in the region that triggered the deadly landslides, the study by WWA, released on Wednesday, pointed out.
The heaviest spells of rainshower in Wayanad was in 2019 and 1924, where the climate change made the downpours 10 per cent heavier.
Wayanad landslides ‘catastrophic example’ of climate change
“The Wayanad landslides is another catastrophic example of climate change playing out in real-time,” Mariam Zachariah, researcher at the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London said.
‘Monsoon downpours will intensify until…’
The WWA study emphasised that if the world does not shift from fossil fuels, causing global warming to reach 2 degree Celsius, one-day spells of rainfall in Kerala will become a further 4 per cent heavier, risking even more destructive landslides.
Zachariah went on to say that until the world replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy, monsoon downpours will continue to intensify, bringing landslides, floods and misery to India.
“The findings reported here are physically consistent with those predicted by climate science… These direct threats to people in India will continue to escalate as the climate warms and humans continue to regulate natural systems,” Arpita Mondal, associate professor, IIT Bombay said.
The study further stated that though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had made a forecast and issued warnings of extreme rainfall, the information was at the state-level, making it difficult to decide and identify which regions would be impacted by landslides and would therefore, require speedy evacuation.
With inputs from agencies
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What caused Wayanad landslides? A study throws up some answers
