Which of the following areas is not a landslide-prone area?

Concept: A region's landslide susceptibility depends on its relief and slope steepness, the strength and structure of its rocks, rainfall intensity, and tectonic activity. The Geological Survey of India / NDMA landslide zonation ranks Indian regions on these factors — very high in the Himalayas, high in the North-Eastern hills, moderate-to-high in the Western Ghats and Nilgiris, and low in the Eastern Ghats and the Vindhyas.

Applying this to the regions listed: the Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous, geologically old and comparatively low chain with gentle relief and lighter rainfall, so they fall in the low-susceptibility zone. They are therefore the region that is not landslide-prone.

Comparison of the regions:

• Western Ghats — steep escarpments with intense orographic monsoon rainfall: moderate-to-high susceptibility.

• Himalayan Regions — young, tectonically active fold mountains with steep slopes and heavy rain and snowmelt: very-high susceptibility.

• Eastern Ghats — old, low-relief, discontinuous hills with lighter rainfall: low susceptibility, the exception.