The films have made it to the festival under the theme of the day (February 16) -“Reconnecting with our roots: Building resilience through community projects”. The two films were produced by SaveTheHills on the impact of Gaguney Landslide and how it had resulted in the loss of land and livelihoods.
TFM Desk
Two short documentary films on the impact of a landslide on a village in Sikkim – Gaguney Landslide: a village on the edge (8 mins) and A village on the move (8 mins) 2022 will be screened at the Film Festival – ‘Exploring Risk’, Durham University (United Kingdom on February 16, 2023.
The films have made it to the festival under the theme of the day (February 16) -“Reconnecting with our roots: Building resilience through community projects”. The two films were produced by SaveTheHills on the impact of Gaguney Landslide and how it had resulted in the loss of land and livelihoods.
Following the news, Praful Rao, who leads the Landslide prevention campaign in the Darjeeling hills and also president of SaveTheHills – http://www.savethehills.blogspot.com – said “I am extremely proud that they have chosen to do so and am planning to make another documentary during the monsoons of 2023 on the ‘Impact of Landslide Disasters on Rural Communities’ (subject to fund availability). Rural communities are the forgotten lot in landslide disasters, with all the focus and media attention going to landslides on communication lines such as roads and highways and to those in urban centers. In such a scenario, hardly anyone pays heed to smaller landslides which nibble away unnoticed in rural areas, destroying livelihoods and farmlands”.
It may be mentioned that a massive landslide at Gaguney, near Pathing village in Sikkim has been in continuous motion since the night of October 24, 2021. According to reports, huge boulders and debris have been continuously falling down and damaging trees and cattle sheds in the area. As a precautionary measure the villagers have been shifted to avoid casualties. However, no loss of life had been reported at the time of the occurrence.