Kalimpong, a hill station in West Bengal, India, sits at 1,250m above sea level. Here, we have Dumsi Pakha, a less wealthy area where small houses perch precariously on steep hills. Mismanagement in this terrain can lead to landslides, causing disastrous outcomes for the residents. Imagine, for a moment, your home slipping away beneath your feet!

Two primary culprits behind landslides in Dumsi Pakha are

• Water Management: Imagine a gully as a gutter in your neighborhood that collects rainwater. The gullies in Kalimpong carry water through Dumsi Pakha. However, during the dry season, they become clogged with garbage. Come monsoon, the large amount of water they need to transport exacerbates the instability of the slopes. Picture a soda can shaken, waiting to explode!

• Slope Disruption: In some places, people excavate the hill to create terraces for building houses. This increases the slope's instability behind the terrace, similar to trying to balance a book on a steeper and steeper incline!

Existing landslides can also reactivate due to human activity. Think about an old scar reopening!

The people of Dumsi Pakha aren't just waiting for landslides to happen. They've built retaining walls for stabilizing hazardous slopes, much like a barrier you'd set up to stop a rolling ball. However, the scale of the problem is huge, and accidents are inevitable without better management.

As the south-west monsoon approaches, the slopes become extremely hazardous, like a skier facing a particularly dangerous slope. Unregulated water flow during heavy rainfalls, due to a lack of proper drainage, intensifies these problems.