Landslide Vulnerability Analysis of Tourist Spots Through Shannon Entropy Model: A Case Study on Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand

Landslides are very common phenomena along the full stretch of Himalayan Mountain belt of northern India. Every year the foothill states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh experience severe landslides especially during the monsoon season. Higher frequency and intensity of landslide imparts a negative impact on the tourism industry which is one of the major economic sectors of this region. Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand is endowed with a number of religious tourist spots like Gauri Kund, Madmaheswar temple, Kalimath, Omkareswar temple, Trigunayan temple of which Kedarnath derives special mention. Every year huge influx of tourists visit these places of Rudraprayag which generates good revenue. The study area lies within the landslide vulnerability zone and experiences the aftermath of landslide every year which affects the tourism industry in turn. The present research work attempts to perform landslide susceptibility using Shannon Entropy Model, a widely used decision making tool coupled with Geospatial techniques and applied on some selected tourist spots of Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand. The outcome of the research work would reveal the validation of the Shannon entropy model in landslide susceptibility assessment of a few tourist spots’ of Rudraprayag. This paper would help in prognosticating the future of the region’s vulnerability towards landslide and henceforth in judicious management planning for attaining sustainable tourism in the study area.