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LANDSLIDES IN CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS AND POSSIBLE MEASURES

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 Proceedings, International Conference on Disaster Risk Mitigation,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, September 23 - 24, 2017

LANDSLIDES IN CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS AND POSSIBLE MEASURES

M. A. Islam1, M. S. Islam2 and T. Islam3

ABSTRACT

Bangladesh is a densely populated developing country. Hilly or mountainous terrain occupies around 12% of
the total area of Bangladesh. Due to scarcity of land, people are forced to live at foothills or on the slopes of
hills. Landslide has become a major disaster in the hilly regions of Bangladesh, occurring almost every year.
From physical survey, it is observed that soil characteristic of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is alluvial, silty
clay which is vulnerable to landslides. Human activities such as deforestation, jhoom cultivation and hill
cutting have made the slopes unstable. In addition, excessive rainfall during monsoon cause rain cut erosion
which results to landslides. During the last five decades, CHT suffered about 12 major landslides. Most
devastating landslides occurred in 2007 and 2017. The landslide on 11th June, 2007 which occurred in
several areas near Chittagong city was one of the severest of such occurrences in the country’s history
causing death of 127 people. Very recently, on 13 th June, 2017 CHT experienced massive landslides. A large
number of foothill settlements and slums were demolished; more than 152 people died and huge resource
destruction took place. It is observed from the field survey that, failure patterns of some landslides are
transitional whether others are rotational. This paper mainly discusses the extent of these two landslides
(2007 and 2017) and possible measures that can be taken to prevent future landslides. Current practices of
slope protection in hill are construction of RC retaining walls and masonry toe wall which are quite
expensive. It is suggested to implement some new and modified structural measures such as vegetation with
jute geo-textile can significantly improve the stability of hill slopes. Furthermore, development of early
warning, improvement of drainage condition, landslide mapping and geophysical analysis should also be
done alongside in order to reduce the devastating effects of the disaster.

Keywords: Landslide, hill tracts, rain-cut erosion, slope stability

Introduction

Landslide is one of the most significant natural damaging disasters in hilly environments, which includes a
wide range of ground movements, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows (Khan
et al., 2003; Rahman, 2012; Chisty, 2014). Rapid urbanization and human development activities such as,
building and road construction through deforestation and excavation of hill slopes have increased landslide
in densely populated cities located in mountainous areas (Galli and Guzzeti, 2007; Schuster and Highland,
2007). Bangladesh is a densely populated developing country in which hilly or mountainous terrain occupies
around 12% of the total area of the country. Low income group of people are forced to live near or under
dangerous hill tracts risking their own lives. Chittagong hills are degrading by different anthropogenic
stresses such as, hill cutting for construction, sand and clay mining, establishment of settlement in foothills,
deforestation etc. (Mia et al., 2015). Considering above facts, the present study was carried out to assess the
causes of landslide, impacts of landslide on local communities and mitigation strategies of landslide to
reduce vulnerability of landslide in the study area of Bangladesh.

Geology of Chittagong Hill Tracts

The hill areas are underlain by tertiary and quaternary sediments that have been folded, faulted and uplifted,
then deeply dissected by rivers and stream. These areas consist of sandstones and shale and also with
siltstone which have less stability. The bedrock and soil structure of these hills are not stable for which
reason these areas are highly prone to landslide.

1
Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.
2
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.
3
Post Graduate Student, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh.
Email of Corresponding Author : msharifulbd@gmail.com
 Landslides in Chittagong Hill Tracts and Possible Measures
M. A. Islam1, M. S. Islam2 & T. Islam3

The composition of soil of these hilly regions is complex and the young rocks have higher contents of easily-
weatherable feldspars. The hill soils are mainly yellowish brown to reddish brown loams which grade into
broken shale or sandstone as well as mottled sand at a variable depth. The soils are very strongly acidic. The
soil of the hill slope is usually silty clay (liquid limit: 32-40; plasticity index: 15-21). Percent finer # 200
sieve (0.074 mm) and clay content varied between 92%-94% and 18%-19%, respectively (Islam, 2014).

History of Landslide

Landslide is a natural phenomenon and accelerated by human interventions. This is a major natural hazard in
recent years and received great concern in south-eastern part of Bangladesh as Chittagong and Chittagong
Hill Tracts region. During the last five decades, Chittagong suffered 12 landslides (Sarker and Rashid,
2013). During the last three decades the death toll is more than 350 and occurred massive economic and
property loss.

Chittagong Landslide 2007 and 2017

The landslide on 11 June 2007 which occurred in several areas of Chittagong city was the severest of such
occurrences in the country’s history. Major city areas affected were the foothill settlements consisting of the
slums of Lebubagan Baizid Bostami, Kusumbag, Motizharna, and Lalkhan bazaar hilly area. 127 people
died and a total of 2072 families were affected (Sarker and Rashid, 2013).

On 12 June 2017, heavy monsoon rain over 343 millimeters triggered a series of landslides and floods in
Rangamati, Chittagong and Bandarban - three hilly districts of Bangladesh - and killed at least 152 people.
Hundreds of homes have been buried in mud and rubble, including over 5,000 homes in the Kawkhali
upazila of Rangamati district. The district's power grid was also destroyed Hundreds injured and many
missing as well as houses were destroyed by the land mass. Figure 1 shows some of the glimpse of the
massive disaster.

(a) (b)
Figure 1. (a) Part of the Rangamati-Chittagong road collapsed at Manikchhari, (b) people have built a
temporary solution while local road have been damaged near Rangmati-Khagrachhari road.

Sand

Clay

Figure 2. Different layers of soils at Sapchhari Shal Bagan (at 61 km from CHT)
 Proceedings, International Conference on Disaster Risk Mitigation,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, September 23 - 24, 2017

Causes of Landslide

The mechanism of landslide is occurred by both internal forces and external factors. When the gravitational
force acting on a slope exceeds its resisting force, slope failure and mass wasting occurs. The usual type of
soil at the hill slope is silty clay. At most areas, the soil consists of different layers of sand and clay/shale.
Shear strength of silty clay type soil is much lower than regular sand or clay soils. Again, excessive rainfall
had saturated the soil resulting increase of soil mass. Figure 2 shows that two soil layers: sand and clay/shale
at Sapchhari Shal Bagan (at 61 km from CHT). The bedding of the soil formation is almost horizontal.
Alternate layer of sand and very thin film of cementing clay/shale layer Rainwater seeps through the layers
and over the ages reduces the bond between the sand and clay/shale layers.

Table 1. Different types of structural measures for prevention of landslides

Remedial
Groups Brief Description Applicability in the context of Bangladesh
Measures
This method is suitable only for cuts into
1. Reducing This method reduces the driving
deep soil where rotational landslides may
general slope force and thereby improves
Modification occur. A complete solution involves
angle stability
of Slope additional modification of the land.
Geometry 2. Adding Lightweight material can be added
This method is not suitable since a lot of
lightweight replacing the original in situ
earth works need to be done.
material material.
Any sags, depressions or ponds
Although surface drainage alone will
above the slope line can be drained
1. Surface seldom correct an active landslide, any
to minimize the possibility of
Drains improvement in surface drainage will be
percolation of surface water into
beneficial.
potentially unstable area.
Sub surface drainage is carried out
In the case of presence of groundwater, cut
Drainage by installing horizontal drains,
2. Sub drainage areas and under proposed embankments, sub
vertical drains and deep trench
drainage is important.
drains.
Consumptive use of vegetation
3. Hydrological
extracts water from groundwater Most effective drainage method both
effect of
which decreases the saturation of Natural and environment friendly.
vegetation
soil.
Large excavation requires. Can take no
1. Gravity A mass of plain concrete with
tensile stresses and is uneconomical for high
Retaining wall weep holes, free-draining backfill.
walls.
Free-draining. Retention is
Capacity is limited by . Have high
2. Gaboin obtained from the stone weight and
resistance to impact and weathering and also
Retaining Walls its interlocking and frictional
possess good and elongation characteristics.
Structures strength.
Free-draining and tolerant of Construction cost is high for retaining walls.
different settlements, they can have Relatively large space is required for the
3. RCC
high capacity and have been wall. It is not possible to build retaining
Retaining wall
constructed to heights of at least walls to all dangerous slopes along the hill
18m. sides.
This method is ideal for tight spaces and
Soil nail can prevent landslides by
irregular shapes. Minimum shoring is
inserting steel reinforcement bars
1. Soil Nailing required and height of wall is not restricted.
into the soil and anchoring them to
Hence this method is suitable for
the soil strata.
Internal Bangladesh.
Slope Anchors can be applied by linking
Reinforcem- at the surface to each other by a Installing cost is much higher. This method
2. Anchors
ent beam frame which is generally is not suitable for Bangladesh.
made of reinforced concrete.
3. Geotextiles Geotextiles can be layered in
Greatly enhancing repair options when
and reinforcing compacted fill embankments to
space is tight
grids engender additional shear strength.
Rooted soil has higher shear
Bio-engineering solution is mostly effective
strength than bare soil. For deep
Bio- Vegetation for a moderate country like Bangladesh.
rooted soil, stability increases
Engineering planting Initial cost is very low compared to other
significantly due to root strength
techniques.
mechanical effect.
 Landslides in Chittagong Hill Tracts and Possible Measures
M. A. Islam1, M. S. Islam2 & T. Islam3

Possible Measures

The selection of appropriate measures should be based on assessment of risk, uncertainty, possible
consequences, constructability, environmental impacts and costs (GMS, 2011). Usually two types of
approaches can be taken for the prevention of the disaster: one is structural solutions and the other is
nonstructural measures (soft engineering).

Structural Measures

Structural measures considering the safety measures, building codes and better drainage facilities are
inevitable for mitigation of landslide disaster risk. In Bangladesh, retaining wall is widely used to stabilize
slope which is a costly technology. Therefore, new affordable and sustainable technology should be explored
to stabilize slopes. Table 1 describes different types of possible structural measures with their applicability in
the context of Bangladesh.

Non-Structural Measures

Soft engineering is as much important as structural solutions. Land use vulnerability assessment and zoning,
early warning system, relocation of the foothill settlements, controlling hill cutting through proper
enforcement of legal provisions, real time monitoring and early warning etc. measures can be taken for the
mitigation of landslides.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Landslide vulnerability is an important issue for people living in the hilly areas of Chittagong city. In the
recent years, landslide is occurring regularly causing hundreds of people die. The main mitigation strategies
are stopping of hill cutting, resettlement of the affected people, vegetation and development of robust policy.
Different methods are compared in this paper with their applicability and suitability. Single method is not
effective for preventing landslides. Among the different methods, bio-engineering with jute geo-textiles, soil
nailing and proper drainage is the most effective solution. With appropriate long rooted vegetation (e.g.
vetiver grass) and proper techniques landslide occurrences can be effectively controlled. Proper analysis can
be done across the dangerous locations of the hill tracts in order to identify the vulnerable slopes. Numerical
modeling like Finite Element Method can be done with necessary field, model and laboratory tests. Warning
system relating with rainfall can also be developed so that people themselves will be beware of probable
landslides just knowing the precipitation of that area.

References

Chisty, K.U. (2014). “Landslide in Chittagong city: A perspective on hill cutting”, Journal of Bangladesh
Institute of Planners, 7, 1-17.
Galli, M. and Guzzetti, F. (2007). “Landslide vulnerability criteria: A case study from Umbria, central Italy”,
Environmental management”, 40, 649-664
Geotechnical Manual for Slopes (GMS). (2011), Geotechnical Control Office, Engineering Development
Department, Hong Kong.
Islam, M.A.; Khan A J.; Siddique A.; Saleh, A.M.; Nasrin, S. (2014), “Control of Erosion of Hill Slope Top
Soil Using Geojute and Vegetation”, National Seminar on Jute Geotextiles, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Khan, A.J., Siddique, M.A. and Rouf, A. (2003). ‘Restoration of a damaged slope due to landslide for the
safety of a microwave tower’, Journal of Civil Engineering, The Institution of Engineers
Bangladesh, CE 31(2): 149-164.
Mia, M.T.; Sultana N.; Paul A. (2015) “Studies on the Causes, Impacts and Mitigation Strategies of
Landslide in Chittagong city”, Bangladesh. J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 8(2): 1-5.
Rahman, T. (2012) “Landslide risk reduction of the informal foothill settlements of Chittagong city through
strategic design measure”, M. Sc. Thesis, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Sarker A.A. and Rashid A.K.M.M. (2013). “Landslide and flashflood in Bangladesh”, Springer, Japan.
Schuster, L.R. and Highland, L.M. 2007. “Urban Landslides: socioeconomic impacts and overview of
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