The series of landslides in the Sahyadri ranges of Western Ghats is a near-repeat of the Malin incident that took place nearly seven years ago.
On 30 July 2014, a landslide occurred in the Malin village in the Ambegaon tehsil of Pune district of Maharashtra.
The landslide, which hit early in the morning while residents were asleep, was believed to have been caused by a burst of heavy rainfall and killed at least 151 people.
The entire village was wiped out from the map as the landslide originated from the neighbouring hill.
About 44 to 46 separate houses were believed to have been buried in the landslide.
The landslide was first noticed by a bus driver who was driving by the area and saw that the village had been overrun with mud and earth. He revealed that the village itself was missing.
He alerted the MSTRC depot, which relayed the information to district authorities.
The immediate cause of the landslide was also attributed to a low-pressure trough that had developed over the Arabian Sea and had caused continuous heavy rainfall for more than 24 hours before the actual event.
Deforestation along with faulty agricultural practices destabilised the slope and the rainwater infiltrated to a crucial depth where the top soil layer moved under the influence of gravity.
The traditional rice cultivation allowed the water to flow downhill without obstructions. But recently, wheat cultivation had started which required terracing and levelling of the slopes. Therefore, the water accumulated on the slopes and infiltrated to a depth that destabilised the slope.
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