Maharashtra can’t stop landslides. But can it prevent loss of life?

Baban Sapkal gazed at the remnants of what was once his home in the Western Ghats. We were standing atop a forested hill in Taliye, a village in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. Wisps of clouds shed light rain on the slope, where Sapkal brings his cattle to graze every day.

On July 22, 2021, at 4.30 pm, a large mass of land had broken free from the hill where we now stood, and buried Kondhalkar hamlet, part of Taliye village, which lay on the slope. Out of 55 houses, only three houses and Sapkal’s cattle shed survived.

“I remember there was heavy rain,” Sapkal said. “I was sleeping when some men from the village came running to alert me that a few boulders had fallen from the hill.” When he stepped out, he found that the afternoon was cloudy, with poor visibility. “Those men were going to other houses when...” he paused, his eyes turning moist, “when a wave of soil and trees swept them away.”

“So many people I knew all my life died within minutes,” the 75-year-old said.

The landslide killed 87 people, including those men. The bodies of 31 people were never found. The 135 villagers who survived moved out immediately. Their huts had...

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