Natural Hazards and Degradation of Landforms in Eastern Ramganga Basin of

Natural hazards are extreme weather and climate events that occur naturally in all parts of the world. Some regions are more vulnerable to certain hazards than others. Hazards become disasters when there is loss of people’s lives and properties. Typically, a natural hazard can be defined as the probability of occurrence within a specified period of time and within a given area of potentially damaging phenomenon. In the present study an environmentally sensitive area suffering from natural hazards and degradation of landforms is selected. A detailed field investigation was conducted in the study area to find out the impact of processes causing environmental degradation. In the recent past these natural processes are rapidly increasing due to increasing phase of human activities; causing damage to life and property in the Eastern Ram-ganga basin specifically and the Himalayan region in general. In the study area Kwiti, La, Jhekala, Nachani, Tejam, Dor, Bansbagad, Ruisapata, Simtola and many more villages were severally affected due to the natural hazards in the past few years. Eastern Ramganga catchment is highly vulnerable to the risk of several kinds of natural hazards. Disasters in the region cause great loss to life and property and pose serious threat to the process of development which has impact on economic and social well-being of the people living here. Thus, the impacts of natural hazards caused by different geomorphic processes including extreme events are multidimensional affecting environmental, social and economic systems.


Introduction
The processes which cause an accident or extreme event, or danger are called Hazards, whereas disaster is a sudden adverse or unfortunate extreme event which causes great damage to human life as well as plants and animals. Natural hazards are combinations of natural phenomena such as earthquakes, mass movement, floods, volcanic eruption, tsunamis and many more that may cause loss of lives and damage to the property. Though it may not be feasible to control natural events and to stop the progress of natural phenomena, an effort could be made to alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure and property. The natural hazards are the outcome of natural processes operating on the surface of the earth as well as under it.
Anthropogenic processes trigger these natural hazards up to some extent in the Upper Ramganga (Eastern) Basin. The main factors causing natural hazards in the region are uneven topography, drainage basin and steep and irregular slope of the region. In spite of the efforts done by central and state governments at ground level there is a need to improve management strategy in a geodynamic region like the Himalayas. Some of the suggestions, if particularly implemented, can improve the condition of the local inhabitants who are facing the consequences of the extreme geomorphic processes changing into disasters. Though some studies in the Higher Himalaya have been conducted with the G.I.S. techniques lack of field studies and on the spot measurements, these studies have limited scope to save the vulnerable areas.
Young and dynamic Himalayan mountainous are highly vulnerable to landslides and other mass wasting processes. The study area is a part of sparsely populated region due to steep slopes and inaccessible remote terrain. Every time, the slopes of the Himalayan mountainous region are at risk. The risk is higher where anthropogenic activities take place in an irresponsible way. Example-the material output of slope cutting down the slopes in a mismanaged way in the Higher Himalayan terrain. This material is responsible for road accidents along the Thal Munsyari road in the study area. During the monsoon rains the hill roads are fraught with danger. The damaging hazards triggering by earthquakes or heavy rainstorms are, somehow responsible for loss of lives and properties in these areas. In the Himalayan region landslides during heavy rainfall are very common either it is Garhwal or Kumaun Himalaya in Uttarakhand. The hill regions of North-eastern part of our country are facing problems of landslide because of heavy rainstorms.

Study Area
The study area (Eastern Ramganga basin) lies in the part of the hill state of Uttarakhand has a total geographic area of 53,483 km², of which 93% is mountainous and 64% is covered by forest. The Ramganga Basin has been divided into two parts. First one is the Northern basin which is located Northward Thal. The Southern part of the Eastern Ramganga Basin has not been included in the present study. The Upper Ramganga (Eastern) watershed has been further divided into various micro watersheds which can be seen in map. The area of the selected upper catchment of the Eastern Ramganga Watershed includes 722 km.² areas which can be seen in the location map of the study area (fig-1). The Ramganga River flows in N-S direction for about 78.6 km. The basin lies between 29⁰31'23''and 30⁰14'11'' N latitudes and 80⁰06'12''and 80⁰06'49'' E longitudes and is 26.5 km at its widest.

Methodology
The study has included both primary and secondary data collection. Detailed information has been collected through different sources (governmental, non-governmental and personal contacts with local people and other) and detailed field study of the area. Severely affected villages in Eastern Ramganga Basin are selected for the study. Preliminary data collection was completed through field survey and personal interviews by using schedule method. Secondary data collected from block development office and tehsil headquarter books, websites and articles etc.

Result and Discussion
The degradation of environment is combined effect of natural and cultural forces but the exponentially increasing intervention of cultural forces accelerated the pace of degradation unbearably. The degradation of slopes of Kumaun Himalaya is linked with the various socio-economic activities. anthropogenic and technogenic activities are making instable the hill slopes of the Himalaya.
The Upper Ramganga (Eastern) area is highly prone to high intensity rainfall events including cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides. Climate change will increase the frequency of extreme weather events including heavy rainfall. The impact on the steep slopes in the higher Himalayan region of Uttarakhand will be even greater because the Himalayas are warming at least twice as fast as the globe. Rapidly melting glaciers in the higher Himalayan region will release large quantities of water into river systems.

Conclusion
In the present study, there are a large part of the forested land was damaged in Bhandarigaon and Girgaon where the rate of 31.92 % and 10.09 %. In the village Laa-Jhekla, TallaBhainskot, Gini and Ruisapata the percentage of damage is higher in the agricultural area. The area including forested land and village area of Bhandarigaon and Girgaon is prone to mass wasting processes. Thus, damage was caused due to landslides and cloudbursts both.Ramganga along with its tributaries has worked Journal of Mechanical and Construction Engineering (JMCE) A2Z Journals out the bed and banks along its path and worked away the agricultural terraces of Timtiya and Bansbagadh. All the selected villages (Bhandarigaon, Laa-Jhekla, Girgaon, Bansbagadh, Timtiya, TallaBhainskot, Gini, Ruisapata), 7.60 % of total forested land, 8.91 % of total agricultural land and 10.42 % of total NAP land damaged by environmental hazards. The hazards and disaster play their different role in different environmental conditions. The effect of these events in various landforms varies with the geological setting and anthropogenic activities in the area. If the people of the Himalayas were more aware of the geological vulnerability and ecological fragility, they would surely force more compliance of laws and regulations to protect it.
Prevention and mitigation measures play an important role in minimizing the damage caused by disasters which occur due to the active geomorphic processes. We cannot stop these natural processes but mitigate the harmful effect of hazards by identified the sensitive areas. So, the study may help environmentalists to analyze the impact of hazards in every aspect of human life (4).