Landslide-Prone Regions – Statistics & Warning Signs (2019–2025)

Landslides are not rare accidents in far-off hills any more. They now hit highways, pilgrim routes, hydropower sites, tourist towns and crowded hillside colonies. The ground usually gives warning signs before it moves. Knowing them can save your family.

What the official mapping shows

ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) published the Landslide Atlas of India in 2023. It holds a database of about 80,000 landslides mapped between 1998 and 2022 in the landslide-prone parts of 17 states and two union territories, in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats. NRSC used this data to rank 147 districts by how exposed their people and property are to landslides.

Reports on the Atlas say Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand came out on top, and that the states with the most mapped landslide sites were:

State or UT	Landslide sites mapped, 2000 to 2022
Mizoram	12,385
Uttarakhand	11,219
Jammu and Kashmir	7,280
Kerala	6,039
Himachal Pradesh	1,561

Source: ISRO/NRSC Landslide Atlas of India (2023), state counts as summarised by GKToday, 8 March 2023. These are mapped landslide sites, not deaths, and the count depends on how much each area was surveyed.

Why this matters

A landslide does not only bring down soil. It cuts off roads, buries homes, breaks power and water lines, and can trap whole villages. On 30 July 2024, landslides at Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Wayanad, Kerala, killed more than 200 people in a single night after very heavy rain. Reports of the final toll differ. Kerala is not usually thought of as a landslide state, which is exactly the point: the Western Ghats are at risk too.

Earlier versions of this page gave national totals for landslides, deaths and displaced families for 2019 to 2025, a ranking of states by “percentage of districts at risk”, trigger percentages and a yearly loss figure. We could not trace any of these to an official source, so we have removed them.

Where the risk is highest

• Himalayan states: Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, the Darjeeling hills and Arunachal Pradesh. Steep young mountains, heavy monsoon rain, earthquakes and road-cutting all add to the risk.
• North-east: Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya, where hill cutting for roads and towns is common.
• Western Ghats: Kerala (Idukki, Wayanad), the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, and the ghat sections of Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Most landslides in India are set off by heavy or prolonged rain and cloudbursts. Unplanned road-cutting, construction on steep slopes, quarrying and loss of forest cover make slopes weaker.

Warning signs before a landslide

1. New cracks in walls, floors or the ground.
2. Trees, poles or fences on a slope starting to tilt.
3. Rumbling sounds, or stones cracking and falling.
4. Muddy water coming out of a hillside, or springs appearing where there were none.
5. Doors and windows suddenly jamming as the house shifts.
6. A stream suddenly turning muddy, or its flow dropping, during heavy rain.
7. Water seeping through retaining walls or tunnel linings.

If you notice any of these during heavy rain, leave at once, warn your neighbours and tell the local authorities. Do not wait to see if it gets worse.

What you can do

• Do not build, rent or park right below a steep slope or a cut hillside.
• Avoid travelling on hill roads during continuous heavy rain, and check whether roads are open before you set out.
• In the hills, carry a torch, a whistle, a first-aid kit and some water and food in the vehicle.
• Save 112 (all emergencies) and 108 (ambulance).
• Do not stand on bridges, riverbanks or under hillsides to watch the rain or a flooded river.
• Follow IMD rain warnings and your district administration’s alerts. Move when you are told to, before you are forced to.

What needs to change

• District-level landslide hazard maps used in every building and road decision.
• No-construction zones on the steepest and most unstable slopes.
• Slope protection that works with nature: proper drainage, grass and bamboo, retaining walls designed by engineers.
• Early warning based on rainfall limits and ground sensors, sent to people’s phones.
• Training for local communities, drivers and tour operators, through NDMA and volunteer groups like VFF India.

References

• ISRO / National Remote Sensing Centre: Landslide Atlas of India (2023)
• Geological Survey of India: landslide inventory and hazard zonation
• National Disaster Management Authority: landslide guidelines
• India Meteorological Department: rainfall warnings

The ground often warns before it moves. If you live in or travel to the hills or the Ghats, share these warning signs with your family before this monsoon.