{"id":40550,"date":"2025-04-07T19:22:37","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=40550"},"modified":"2025-04-07T19:23:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:53:24","slug":"urban-areas-land-subsidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-04-2025\/urban-areas-land-subsidence","title":{"rendered":"Land Subsidence in Urban Areas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Urbanization Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Land subsidence at a dumping ground in Belgachia, West Bengal, left hundreds of families without water and electricity, highlighting the growing challenges of man-made urban crises.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Land Subsidence?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the <strong>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), <\/strong>subsidence is the \u201csinking of the ground because of underground material movement\u201d.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It can happen for a host of reasons, man-made or natural, such as the removal of water, oil, or natural resources, along with mining activities.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Across the world, many cities are slowly sinking including tropical megacities like <strong>Jakarta in Indonesia or Manila in the Philippines<\/strong>, or places like <strong>New Orleans,<\/strong> <strong>Vancouver, Mexico City<\/strong> etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Land subsidence has affected around <strong>65 percent<\/strong> of the houses in the pilgrimage town of <strong>Joshimath in Uttarakhand<\/strong> in 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Causes of Land Subsidence in Urban Areas<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Over-extraction of Groundwater:<\/strong> Unsustainable withdrawal of groundwater for domestic, industrial, and agricultural use causes aquifers to collapse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unregulated Dumping of Waste:<\/strong> Municipal solid waste piles exert heavy pressure on land, especially if dumped on weak or marshy soils.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rapid Urbanization:<\/strong> High-rise buildings and infrastructure projects put enormous pressure on the land without assessing the soil\u2019s carrying capacity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Natural Causes:<\/strong> Geological faults, tectonic activities, and the dissolution of underground rocks (e.g., limestone in karst areas).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"cdd3d5\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"614\" height=\"184\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Land-Subsidence-in-Urban-Areas.png\" alt=\"Land Subsidence in Urban Areas\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-40552\" style=\"--dominant-color: #cdd3d5; width:568px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Land-Subsidence-in-Urban-Areas.png 614w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Land-Subsidence-in-Urban-Areas-300x90.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 614px) 100vw, 614px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impacts of Land Subsidence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Damage to Infrastructure: <\/strong>Cracks in roads, bridges, buildings, and pipelines increase maintenance cost for urban local bodies.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Displacement of Populations: <\/strong>Slum dwellers and low-income families living near landfills or unstable areas are worst affected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Public Health Crisis:<\/strong> It increases the risk of urban flooding and vector-borne diseases.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Exposure to chemical sludge and foul gases impacts respiratory and digestive health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Scientific Landfill Management: <\/strong>Urban waste must be segregated, recycled, and processed using modern techniques.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Height and weight restrictions on landfills must be enforced, with constant monitoring of slope stability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Soil testing and simulation models<\/strong> should be used to predict the likelihood of subsidence. Installing<strong> early warning systems<\/strong> could help prevent disasters in densely populated areas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reviving local governance <\/strong>through elected municipal representatives is crucial. Without accountable civic bodies, disasters like Belgachia are likely to recur.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ragpickers must be integrated into urban development plans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/west-bengal\/the-roof-overhead-and-the-ground-beneath-their-feet-crumbled\/article69415952.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Land subsidence at a dumping ground in Belgachia, West Bengal, left hundreds of families without water and electricity, highlighting the growing challenges of man-made urban crises.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>What is Land Subsidence?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), subsidence is the \u201csinking of the ground because of underground material movement\u201d.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It can happen for a host of reasons, man-made or natural, such as the removal of water, oil, or natural resources, along with mining activities.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/07-04-2025\/urban-areas-land-subsidence\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40550"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40571,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40550\/revisions\/40571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}