Landslides

[Robyn Appleton]

"The causes of landslides are not a mystery to mankind. Layers of rock and soil such that rain running along a clay or rock layer can create a slippery surface for the weight of the layers above it is a common cause. A rock jumble from previous mountain building, broken or fractured rock easily dislodged. We have stated that the earthquakes man experiences between the periodic passages of Planet X can be considered aftershocks from the last passage, and this is true of landslides also. Mountain building rumples the landscape, so the land is not flat but has steep ravines and hill sides. Older mountain ranges are recognized for their rounded or smoothed appearance, because of frequent landslides distributing the rubble.

"As we approach another passage, another Pole Shift, the pace of landslides has picked up. Why would this be? Plates under pressure will put pressure on regions that contain rumpled hillsides and deep ravines, as these give more readily than strictly flat land, thus act as a weak link. In addition, due to the wobble, the weather has gotten more extreme, with drought and deluge increasing in extremes. Dry ground, suddenly flooded with rainwater needing to seek its level as runoff, will create internal water slides between the rock and soil layers that constitute the rumpled hillsides. Is there an early warning system that mankind could use? The trembles that soil about to slide emits could be detected, yes. These are not earthquakes, and have their own frequency. "

ZetaTalk Chat Q&A: March 22, 2014

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Landslides block Kali Gandaki, locals flee for safety

• No casualties reported, authorities ask locals to vacate area

• 
• This photo posted by benionline.com shows dust from the landslide debris over blocked Kali Gandaki River.

• MAY 24 - A massive landslide has blocked Kali Gandaki River at Baisari in Bhagwati VDC of Myagdi district early Sunday morning.

  The landslip has buried 25 houses in Baisari. No human casualties have been reported yet. Panic-stricken locals in Baisari and areas including district headquarter Beni, Ghatan, Benibazar, Galeshwor, Pokharebagar have started to move to higher grounds after the river was blocked by the landslide at around 1 am this morning.

  Normally landslide is triggered by rain but in this case, the cracks triggered by earthquake led the debris to fall, according to experts. Rocks, boulders and mud are falling making huge sound

  Ministry of Science and Technology has declared 'high alert' in the settlements along the banks of Kaligandaki River owing to continuous landslides which have blocked the River.

  Flood Forecasting division of Department of Hydrology and Meterology under Ministry has appealed to the residents of settlements in the 7 districts below the landslide location  the river to stay alert.

  "A landslide based dam has been formed at Kaligandaki river approximately 10 km upstream of Beni Bazar. Residents living downstream in Galeshwor Bazaar and Beni Bazaar need to be in high alert," states a warning in the Ministry's website. "Parts of Syangja, Parbat, Myagdi, Baglung, Gulmi, Palpa and Nawalparasi districts in the downstream of this river also need to stay high alert."

  Nepal Police, through their twitter account, informed that the water level in the artificial dam created after the blockage of the river has risen by 150 meters. 

  Myagdi district headquarters, Beni bazaar, is said to be at the biggest risk due to the blockage as construction of gabion walls 3 kms from the confluence of the rivers on both sides has not been completed. The campaign was launched on 1998 and has only completed a gabion walls covering only a kilometre of Myagdi and Kaligandaki rivers.

• Locals have already vacated the district headquarter Beni bazaar and move to safer grounds. Transportation along Beni-Jomsom road section has come to a halt.

  “We have asked people to remain on high alert and move to safer grounds. Not a drop of water is flowing downstream. We are still gathering the full scale of the damage,” said Myagdi Chief District Officer Tek Bahadur KC.

  A chopper with six rescue personnel onboard has flown for Myagdi from the Capital. The team has landed one kilometers upstream and will attempt to drain out the water from the artificial lake, Nepal Police informed. Nepal Army, Nepal Police personnel and officials from the Home Ministry have already reached the incident site.

  Meanwhile, Prakriti Raj Joshi, a geologist with Nepal Electricity Authority who returned from the dammed river, said that the water level has been constantly rising as the security personnel have not been able to find an outlet for the accumulated water.

  Nawa Raj Sharma, UML lawmaker from Myagdi who is now in Beni, said that the continuous falling of debris is making it difficult for the rescue team to drain out the water. The chopper which flew into the district with rescue team has not been able to locate the exact blockage of water as its view has been blocked by the dust from the falling debris.

Source:

http://www.ekantipur.com/2015/05/24/top-story/landslides-block-kali...

[Howard]

More on the building collapse in China on May 20 reported by KM .

A 9-storey apartment building home to 114 people was completely demolished by a landslide on May 20 in the Yunyan District of Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou.

It is clear that the building collapse was triggered by a landslide. Some of the images show the collapsed block with the landslide behind.

Of the 16 people missing, eight bodies have been recovered while eight remain missing.

Mobile phone signals of 15 of them were detected at the scene. 

More than 100 rescuers have been combing the debris with sniffer dogs and life detectors since the accident happened. Fourteen trapped people were pulled out from the debris soon after, including two seniors and a four-month baby.

According to Li Shiyong, head of firefighting team, there's still a chance to find survivors in the debris within the first 72 hours.

Sources

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-05/21/c_134259443.htm

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2015/05/21/guiyang-1-2/

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/05/18/at-least-40-dead-dozens-missing-i...

At least 40 dead, dozens missing in Colombian landslide

Reuters

Monday, May 18, 2015 2:02:29 EDT PM

BOGOTA - At least 40 people have been killed and dozens are missing after a landslide in northwest Colombia in the early hours of Monday, officials said.

Heavy rains caused a ravine to overflow, sending mud and water onto neighboring homes in Salgar, located in Antioquia department.

"We still do not have an exact figure, I only know that there are more than 40 dead, many families displaced, but I still can't give an exact figure," local official Zulma Osorio told local Caracol Radio.

"The tragedy is of an immense magnitude," she added. "There are many more dead, the whole town is totally collapsed."

Photographs released by the country's air force and television news footage showed destroyed homes and streets covered in mud and debris in the town, which is located in a mountainous area close to the Colombian Andes.

Residents were pictured picking through rubble looking for survivors.

"This was so terrible, we heard rocks hitting, the water dragged us and we had to go to the kitchen and climb up onto the roof," a local man told Caracol.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who is traveling to the town, said via Twitter that Colombia's government will provide aid to the victims.

"We are attending to the emergency in Salgar. Those affected will receive all our support," he said.

[Howard]

Massive Glacier Collapse in Western China (May 16)

A huge portion of glacier has collapsed in China's Xinjiang, burying more than 100 cattle, crushing dozens of houses and covering 15,000 acres of grassland.

The enormous debris field was estimated at 20-km long, 1-km wide, 30-50 meters high with a volume of 500 million cubic meters.

The Kongur Tiube glacier collapse occurred in the Akto County of the Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture.

About 60 families were evacuated.

Researchers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have been sent to investigate the glacier move.

The researchers will collect information via remote sensing technologies, said Li Zhongqin, head of CAS Tianshan Mountains Glacier Observation Station.

Kongur Tiube, which means in the local language "the mountain with a white cap", is the second highest peak of the Western Kunlun with elevation of 7,530 meters.

Sources

http://news.ifeng.com/a/20150516/43771483_0.shtml

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&a...

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-05/16/c_134244924.htm

[Mark]

Landslip disrupts traffic on Munnar ghat road

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/landslip-disrupts-...

Tourists travel additional 100 to 120 km to reach Munnar

Vehicular traffic was disrupted on Bodi-Munnar ghat road since Wednesday night owing to a massive landslip on 14{+t}{+h}hairpin bend caused by heavy rainfall on the Western Ghats.

Big boulders and heaps of soil blocked the entire road, leaving a small space for persons to cross on foot.

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation and private bus operators suspended all services to Munnar and other places in Kerala from Bodi, Periyakulam and Madurai since Wednesday night, and private vehicles and trucks were diverted either through Cumbum Mettu or Kumuli ghat road to reach Munnar.

Tourists affected

With commencement of summer season, flow of tourists to Munnar has increased. Closure of the ghat road made it difficult for the tourists, who had to travel an additional 100 to 120 km to reach Munnar.

Estate workers too could not go for work in the morning as jeep operators did not operate their vehicles.

All vehicles were stranded on the ghat road since morning. Later, police stopped the vehicles at Mundhal check-post and diverted them through Cumbum.

[KM]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/homes...

Homes on sliding river bank in Saskatoon put on evacuation alert

SASKATOON - Six homes on Saskatoon's sliding river bank in the Nutana neighbourhood are under an evacuation alert.

The City of Saskatoon has told residents that the alert will be upgraded to an order if the situation worsens.

Kent Rathwell lives in one of the affected homes and has been given this notice before.

He says it's frustrating because the homeowners can't do much to stabilize their property until the city stabilizes its property on the river valley first.

Even then, he says the cost could end up being more than he and the others paid for their whole properties.

http://www.newstalk650.com/story/6-saskatoon-homes-under-evacuation...

PHOTOS: 6 Saskatoon homes under evacuation alert

Alert could be upgraded to order if situation worsens on Nutana Slope

Six homes on Saskatoon's sliding river bank in Nutana are under an evacuation alert.
The City of Saskatoon has told residents that the alert will be upgraded to an order if the situation worsens.

"The city continues to monitor the slope and to keep the group of affected owners informed of the data including any notice or alert," the city said in a statement. The notices were sent to property owners on 11th Street East and Saskatchewan Crescent.

Kent Rathwell lives in one of the affected homes and has been given this notice before.

“It is quite frustrating because we can’t really do much unless they stabilize the city valley for them. Then we can stabilize our property. For us to do that, it is going to be more than what we paid for our whole property,” he said.

Residents have been asking the city to reinforce the lane that runs between 11th Street and Saskatchewan Crescent.

The view of the city owned Cherry Lane between 11th Street East and Saskachewan Crescent on May 13, 2015.

A city-commissioned engineering report by Golder Associates pegged the bill to fix the problem as high as $20 million. That report suggested several years of heavy rain across the city had pushed the water table up, and with it, the layer of clay underneath the affected homes.
While Rathwell remains in limbo, he worries about his neighbours.

“I’m nervous for the retired people in the area that have no other options, a lot of them. I can see their nest eggs disappearing completely,” he said.

This week's letter to affected property owners notes the riverbank has moved 30 and 47 millimetres between Feb. 2 and April 17.

-with files from News Talk Radio's Chris Carr and Brent Bosker

 

Additional Images

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/rock-face-collapse-on-sudbury...

AUDIO

Rock face collapse on Sudbury highway narrowly misses crushing pick-up truck

'It could have been anyone of us under those rocks,' area resident says

CBC News Posted: May 13, 2015 9:37 AM ET Last Updated: May 13, 2015 11:57 AM ET

A rock slide on Highway 537 near Wanup send boulders crashing across the road. The highway remains closed. (Megan Thomas/CBC)

A rock slide last night on Highway 537 in the Wanup area south of Sudbury narrowly missed crushing vehicles on Tuesday night.

Giant boulders crashed down on the shoulder of the highway and spilled across both lanes of traffic around 10:40 p.m.

Elle Hoar of Sudbury was driving on Highway 537. She said she slowed down because a pickup truck in front of her had its hazard lights on.

When she looked past the truck, she said she saw the rocks on the road.

Elle Hoar posted this photo on Facebook Tuesday night: "Narrowly escaped a rock slide on my way home tonight. Truck in front of me [not pictured] wasn't so lucky-front end crushed and smeared across the road. Driver is ok." (Elle 

"Gigantic truck and shed-sized boulders were there."

Hoar said she knew the boulders had fallen just a few minutes before because dust still lingered in the air.

Some of the rocks had also damaged the pick-up truck that was driving in front of her, Hoar said.

"They definitely fell on the truck. There was a large boulder the size of her truck that had come down on the front of her hood and had taken her across the road and into the other lane," she said.

"It was a really close call. [The driver] was so lucky to be safe and be all in one piece and her truck not to be damaged in the cab and not just on the hood," Hoar said.

Hoar said she stayed until she knew the driver of the pickup was okay, and emergency officials had been contacted, before taking another road to get home.

On mobile? Listen to the interview with Elle Hoar

The rock slide has shaken other residents who live in the area.

Nancy Rose drives past the spot every day and was walking her dog in the area Wednesday morning.

"It could have been anyone of us under those rocks," she said.

Road remains closed

OPP said the highway was closed to traffic in both directions shortly after the rock slide. It remains closed until further notice. 

A Ministry of Transportation official at the scene said the cleanup of the debris would likely take 24 to 48 hours.

There is a detour around the area. Drivers can take Old Wanup Road to get to Highway 69 or Estaire Road to Old Wanup Road. 

Highway 537 is a two-lane section of provincial road that connects Highway 17 at Wahnapitae to Highway 69 at Wanup.

[Derrick Johnson]

A Strange Underwater Landslide Causes Serious Damage In Norway

This past weekend, a rare underwater landslide in the town of Sørkjosen, Norway, resulted in extensive damage to a wharf, some buildings, and a sea wall. Local authorities have shut down a major road for fear it too could be sucked into the sea, resulting in a 435-mile (700-km) detour.

As reported in the American Geophysical Union’s Landslide Blog, the underwater landslide occurred this past Sunday. Incredibly, no one was killed or injured in an incident that appears to have taken out an area of fill, a large part of a wharf, and some buildings. No residential homes appear to have been damaged, though three people were evacuated.

Above: How the area appeared before the landslide (Bing via AGU). Below: The aftermath.

In addition to the damage at Sørkjosen, the landslide has caused a major headache for travelers. The highway that runs through the town, the E6, has been closed as a precaution. This means the region has essentially been divided into two, resulting in an insane 435-mile (700-km) detour. Normally, a bus trip from Sørkjosen to Tromsø takes about four hours; this week the trip lasts 11 hours. The highway closure also means it’s not possible to drive to and from the Finnmark region without leaving Norway.

Source: http://io9.com/a-strange-underwater-landslide-causes-serious-damage...

[Derrick Johnson]

 

At least four dead, nine missing after landslide on Indonesia's main island, Java

At least four people have been killed and nine others are missing after a landslide buried homes on Indonesia's main island of Java, an official said on Wednesday.

A landslide triggered by a pipeline explosion on Tuesday engulfed eight homes and trapped villagers in a West Java village.

The pipeline, belonging to a geothermal project in the area, had been damaged in a previous landslide caused by days of torrential rain.

"The search for victims of the landslide continues," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said.

More than 100 residents, fearing further landslides, had taken refuge in a village hall, he added.

Landslides are common in Indonesia, one of the world's most natural disaster-prone nations.

The national disaster agency estimates around half the country's 250 million population live in areas prone to landslides.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-06/four-dead-nine-missing-follow...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.odishatv.in/320-odias-trapped-in-badrinath/

320 Odias trapped in Badrinath landslide

Odishatv Bureau on May 1, 2015 at 7:28 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw6fKx2vhCc

Bhubaneswar: As many as 320 Odias are trapped in the landslide due to heavy rains on Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway at Chamoli district of Uttrakhand. The stranded persons were on a pilgrimage to Badrinath, one of the four shrines of the annual Char Dham Yatra that began on April 26.

The stranded people are reported to be from Bhadrak, Bolangir Mayurbhanj and Bargarh districts of Odisha.

The State government has taken measures to rescue them.

“We have taken steps to rescue the people stranded in Uttarakhand. Odisha government’s Resident Commissioner posted at New Delhi has been making arrangements to ensure safe return of the people,” said special relief commissioner (SRC) G V V Sharma.

L N Mishra, Collector of Bhadrak in Odisha said at least 54 people from his district were trapped due to the landslide.

“I have spoken to the people standard there. All of them are safe,” Mishra said.

Communication between Joshimath and Govindghat was completely disrupted after the landslide at Vishnuprayag at about 11 AM on Tuesday last.

The road between Joshimath and Govindghat was blocked by big boulders, due to landslides caused by rains yesterday, Chamoli’s Disaster Management official Nand Kishore Joshi said.

Following the incident, almost 3,000 pilgrims have been stranded at Joshimath and Govindghat, he said.

Efforts are on to remove the boulders, Joshi said and hoped that the highway would reopen soon even though continuous falling of rocks is hampering the efforts.