Every year, thousands of people travel on the highways of Jammu and Kashmir. Students travel to colleges, patients go to hospitals, tourists visit the beautiful valleys, and trucks carry food, medicines, fuel, and other essential supplies. These highways are the lifelines of the Union Territory. But during the rainy season, a single landslide can bring everything to a halt. Hundreds of vehicles remain stranded for hours or even days, people suffer, businesses lose money, and sometimes innocent lives are lost.The question is: Can science reduce the danger of landslides? The answer is yes. While science cannot stop heavy rain or earthquakes, it can predict dangerous conditions, reduce risks, and save lives.A landslide happens when rocks, soil, or mud move rapidly down a mountain slope. Jammu and Kashmir lies in the young Himalayan mountain range, where rocks are naturally fragile and unstable. During heavy rainfall, water enters cracks in rocks and soil, making them weak and heavy. Gravity then pulls this loose material downhill.Climate change has made the situation more serious. Rainfall is becoming more intense, glaciers are melting faster, and weather patterns are changing. A few hours of very heavy rain can trigger landslides in places that were once considered safe.Human activities also increase the risk. Cutting mountain slopes without proper scientific studies, removing forests, poor drainage, illegal construction, and dumping excavated soil on hillsides all weaken the mountains. In many places, blocked drains allow rainwater to collect inside slopes, making them even more unstable.Modern science has developed technologies that help identify dangerous areas........

© Greater Kashmir