
When monsoon comes, “living on
the edge” is what most of the residents of Mizoram State capital Aizawl, a picturesque city that nestles on
top of a beautiful mountain, are practically doing in their day to day lives.
Forget about massive earthquake
that can rock the otherwise beautiful
hill city anytime, most of the city
dwellers live in fear of landslides that
come every monsoon without fail.
This monsoon, the disastrous landslide that caused a massive building at
BSUP complex in Durtlang to collapse
and claimed three lives has caused
sleepless nights to many residents of
the city. Geologists’ comments that
most of the buildings in Aizawl can meet
the same fate as the buildings at Laipuitlang have added fuel to their fears.
The soil in most parts of Aizawl is
soft and the topography has an average of more than 35 degree slope.
“Due to heavy rainfall and improper
drainage and sewerage system, large
amount of water penetrate into the
soil. This makes the city highly vulnerable to disastrous landslides,” a
geologist said.
To make matters worse, most of
the buildings in Aizawl were constructed without following safety
norms and sub-standard materials,
particularly iron rods and cement,
were used.
The city can face a major disaster
due to landslides triggered by monsoon rains or earthquake as entire Mizoram is earthquake prone.

Improper sewage system, dumping
of garbage in the drains and littering the
environment with polythene bags are
other factors behind landslides. Environmentalists have strongly advocated
banning of the use of polythene bags. To
make matters worse, most of the buildings in the city do not follow safety norms
to withstand not alone earthquake but
even massive landslides.
ZODIN SANGA
AIZAWL, July 28
Assam Tribune