Kashmir Himalaya being a rugged and tectonically active zone has complex, unstable geology along with steep slopes, creating a favorable environment for landslide hazards, especially along the National Highway (NH-44) that connects the Vale of Kashmir with the rest of India. The historical landslide database for the whole country has not yet been developed and the data provided by various government organizations are often very limited because most of the time local and small-scale landslide events do not get recorded, thus, leading to misinterpretations. The present study focuses on retrieving the information on landslide events and their impacts to develop a comprehensive database for the period from 1990 to 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir, emphasizing Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44). A hotspot analysis tool (Getis-ord-Gi* algorithm) was used to understand the spatial distribution and concentration of the events throughout the region. The annual and seasonal analysis of the 739 landslide events reported in the valley for the selected period suggests an increasing trend causing 1000 fatalities and 267 injuries. The findings show that out of 20 districts, 16 are relatively more exposed to landslides and the socio-impact induced by landslides was found more along the NH-44 with 303 landslide occurrences reported in 260 days in the past three decades having a high intensity of damage and loss. The results of this study are expected to be of potential use for developing a Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS) and for mitigating the impacts of landslides in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Disasters not only cause high mortality and suffering, but thwart developmental activities and damage local economies in process of formation. A part of the NW Himalayas, the Kashmir Valley is very distinct with respect to its location, topography, climate, socioeconomic structure, and strategic geopolitical nature owing to which it has witnessed a multitude of disasters ranging from local incidents of rockfalls to catastrophic earthquakes, and has often paid heavily in terms of loss of life and property. However, the information on most of the events is either partially reported or exaggerated or sometimes not recorded at all and largely scattered. Availability of organized and reliable record of past hazards and disasters is essential for tackling the risks and mitigating the future disasters. In this context, the present study attempts to address the lack of data availability by focusing on developing a dependable hazard and disaster catalogue of the Kashmir Valley by investigating into the existing literature and the available secondary data sources. A record of natural hazards and disasters most prevalent in the valley viz., earthquakes, floods, landslides and snow avalanches, has been compiled for the time period 1900 to 2020 by making use of various secondary sources, comprising of 1854 events with a range of triggers and impacts reported in the valley, which provide an insight into the spatial and temporal (frequency and distribution) trends of different hazard types for the selected time-period. Developing a catalogue of events reported in the Kashmir Valley can help in building a hazard and disaster scenario which serves as a reliable information source and is of great value from the perspective of regional design, planning and policy responses to promote disaster risk reduction.

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