Landslide disasters in Kalimpong, India

Matters of time

Bibliographic Data

ID8944941
AuthorsPeter Mcgowran (0000-0002-5043-6430, King's College London, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume156
Pages104140-104140
Publication date2024-10-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeoforum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7185 • E-ISSN: 1872-9398
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.geoforum.2024.104140
OpenAlexW4403655286
LanguageEN
References cited65

Landslide disasters in Kalimpong have complex temporalities that are not accommodated in India's disaster management policy framework.. • Disaster management in India should be decentralised to address disconnects between policy and practice. • More research is needed on the temporalities of disasters in India and the Himalayas more widely. • Assemblage theory can underpin critical geographical research into disaster temporalities. • Calls for more central government intervention in the Himalayan states of India may not yield the desired results. This article critically reflects on recent calls for the decentralisation of disaster risk management to the mountainous regions of India. The physical differences between the mountainous characteristics of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and the plains of mainland India are often cited as the reason why this decentralisation is needed. Proponents of decentralisation sometimes point out that decisions about the mountains are often made in cities in the plains and are thus less likely to consider the impacts of such policies on the physical landscape of the IHR. This argument, which I refer to as the hills-plains narrative of disaster management, is weighed against first-hand qualitative data that narrates people’s experiences of the causes and impacts of landslides in Kalimpong District, West Bengal, India. The article concludes that the disconnects between policy and reality when it comes to landslide risk management in Kalimpong are only weakly related to the dissonances between the physical geographies of the plains and the mountains. The article argues these disconnects are more products of the differing temporalities of landslide impacts and the temporalities for which the State is willing and able to provide support: that they are matters of time. The article ultimately questions whether calls for the decentralisation of disaster risk management to mountain areas should be separated from wider calls for the decentralisation of disaster risk management in India

Geography · Landslide · Seismology · Disaster Management and Resilience · Flood Risk Assessment and Management · Geology · Landslides and related hazards

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