She was the sixth person to die in a landslide in the city in less than a month. Guwahati: Malati Das was busy doing household chores on Wednesday when a rain-triggered landslide came crashing down on her hillside residence in the city here, burying her alive. A top laterite formation of reddish residual silty clay, thickness varying from few centimetres to a few metres, which is then underlain by a saprolite formation of pale yellowish residual soil which can be classified as a poorly graded silty sand. Around 366 sites were already declared 'vulnerable' in and around the city.An IIT-G study on 'Landslide hazard assessment of Guwahati region using physically based models' highlighted that the soil of the city hills is vulnerable. The resulting material is thus very porous and friable in nature and can easily crumble from the slightest disturbance."

Source: Times of India July 21, 2016 05:25 UTC