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

[KM]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3542347/Japan-rocked-second...

Devastating landslide rips a Japanese mountain apart: Death toll rises to 40 after second earthquake destroys roads, bridges and homes 

• Epicentre was near the city of Kumamoto and measured at a depth of 40 km (25 miles), say U.S. Geological Survey
• 6.4 magnitude quake struck Thursday killing ten, and 26 deaths have been recorded so far after the Saturday shock
• Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it is a 'race against time' to find survivors and authorities say death toll is set to rise
• Landslides and road damage are hampering rescue efforts, 410,000 homes without water and 200,000 without water
• 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle walls - which survived a century of wall - were reduced to rubble the the earthquake  

Japan woke up to scenes of devastation yesterday after a second huge earthquake struck the nation, bringing the total death count to 40 and rising.

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake destroyed buildings and roads, causing massive mudslides that even washed away entire bridges.

More than 1,500 people were injured and 30 killed by today's quake, and authorities say they expect the death toll to rise. 

It struck just a day after another 6.4 magnitude shock, killing ten, and the country's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said it is now a 'race against time' to find survivors.

Mr Abe said: 'Nothing is more important than human life and it's a race against time. Daytime today is the big test. I want rescue activities to continue with the utmost effort.' 

The exact number of casualties remained unclear as rescue efforts in southern Kyushu island continued, but they were hampered by the landslides that destroyed bridges and roads. 

Challenging: Rescue efforts have been made more difficult by the fact that landslips have destroyed roads and bridges in the region

Landslide: Buildings were razed to the ground and huge areas of land slipped hundreds of metres onto the towns and villages below 

Efforts have been made more urgent by the fact that Japan is expecting heavy rainfall tonight which will make the search even more challenging. 

The epicentre of the quake was near the city of Kumamoto on the southern island of Kyushu and measured at a shallow depth of 10 kms (6 miles), the USGS said.

Television footage of the area showed fires, power outages, collapsed bridges and gaping holes in the earth.

Residents near a dam were told to leave because of fears it might crumble, broadcaster NHK said, and the 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle  - which survived a century of wart - in the centre of the city was badly damaged.

Nearly 200,000 homes were without electricity and 410,000 are without water after supply systems were damaged, Japanese media reported.

TV footage showed people huddled in blankets, quietly, shoulder to shoulder, on floors of evacuation centers.

One massive landslide tore open a mountainside in Minamiaso village in Kunamato Prefecture all the way from the top to a highway below.

Another gnawed at a highway, collapsing a house that fell down a ravine and smashed at the bottom.

In another part of the village, houses were left hanging precariously at the edge of a huge hole cut open in the earth.

Shocking drone footage shows the extent of the damage, with buildings razed to rubble, roofs of houses collaped and the streets strewn with debris. 

Factories producing auto parts and tech components for companies including Sony Corp and Honda Motor Co halted production as they assessed the damage.

[KM]

http://www.sott.net/article/316233-Massive-2015-Alaskan-landslide-t...

Massive 2015 Alaskan landslide triggering mega-tsunami estimated to...

After a period of heavy rains, about 200 million metric tons of rock tumbled down a remote Southeast Alaska mountain. The massive landslide, lasting about 60 seconds, occurred on October 17, 2015, and landed on the toe of Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fiord in Icy Bay, Alaska. 

The event generated a local megatsunami that sheared trees more than 152.4 meters (500 feet) up on a peninsula within the fiord. It was big enough to register at the nearest tidal gauge 155 km (96.3 miles) away. For comparison, the 2011 tsunami in Japan reached about 39.6 meters (130 feet) above sea level. 

This event, now estimated as the biggest nonvolcanic landslide, by volume, in North America's written history, was registered by special seismograms monitored by the Global CMT Project at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory whose seismologists Göran Ekström and Colin Stark have invented a new technique that uses seismic waves to detect landslides in remote areas where they might otherwise go unrecorded. 

The site of an October landslide in Taan Fiord, within Icy Bay, Alaska

Since winter snows hid the damage generated by the tsunami it took several months to see the extent of the damage. Upon hearing a report from a pilot colleague that the landslide area of Icy Bay was free of snow, glaciologist Chris Larsen of the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute flew there in his Cessna 180. Larsen used a camera system mounted in his plane to make a high-resolution map of the landslide and the path of the megatsunami. 

"It almost blows away everything in the historical record except for Lituya Bay," Larsen said. "It's really a unique event to have a tsunami 100 meters (328 feet) high. If it was September or any time in the summer, the wave could have gotten a fishing boat or two." 

Spruce trees shaved off a peninsula within Taan Fiord by a landslide-generated wave last October

The Lituya Bay landslide, Larsen referred to, occurred in 1958 after a powerful M8.0 earthquake. The wave that followed ripped spruce from 518 m (1 700 feet) up a mountain slope and left trimlines in the bay that are visible today. 

Icy Bay and places like it will have more landslides as time goes on, Larsen said. Warmer temperatures melt more glacial ice that buttress hillsides. When the ice melts, oversteepened slopes will fail. Sometimes it takes a big rain or an earthquake to shake them down. 

"These megatsunamis are infrequent in the historical record but will most likely increase," Larsen added.

[Howard]

10 Hectares Vanish Overnight in Ontario Landslide (Mar 28)

Ten hectares of land slid into the Bonnechere River downstream from Renfrew on the night of March 28-29, clogging the fast-running river with trees and clay.

With the river blocked by trees and debris, water backed up behind the blockage. It rose more than seven metres near the landslide, and about five to six metres upstream in Renfrew.

Osipenko, who heads the Renfrew County Paramedic Service, could only watch and wait. Sooner or later, he said, “the river always finds a way through.”

But first the muddy floodwaters washed away a cottage, damaged a small hunting camp, poured water seven feet deep into a house, submerged the Renfrew sewage plant, and got into the basement of the hydroelectric plant.

Then after seven to eight hours the blockage finally broke loose, releasing all the debris into the Ottawa River.

As long as trees and mud blocked the river, a gauge downstream showed the rate of flow as zero. When the blockage burst, the flow jumped to 250 cubic metres of water per second — two and a half times the normal rate for a spring runoff.

Sources

http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/04/07/renfrew-county-landslide-10-hec...

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/renfrew-county-landslide-1...

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/a-massive-ontario-landslid...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.dawn.com/news/1250052/landslide-buries-30-in-kohistan

Landslide buries 30 in Kohistan

April 5 2016

MANSEHRA: A massive landslide struck at least seven houses in Kohistan district on Monday morning, burying alive at least 30 people.

Kohistan Deputy Commissioner Fazl-i-Khaliq told journalists that widespread rains had softened up a huge portion of a hill which fell on the houses in Thor Nullah Bari area of Kandia tehsil.

He said a police team had been sent to the area to ascertain the situation. Locals also rushed to the area, but could not start rescue wok fearing more landslides.

Mr Khaliq said the terrain was very tough and recent landslides had swept away several roads and, therefore, he had requested the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to send helicopters for rescue work. Personnel from four police stations near the affected area were asked to reach there and take part in the rescue operation.

A police officer said that since the Karakoram Highway was blocked at a number of places in Mansehra and Kohistan, rescue and relief operations had become difficult.

He said 26 nationals of Germany, China and South Korea working on various projects in Kohistan were safe and they were in contact with local police.

Hafizur Rehman, a resident of Kandia valley, told reporters that local people were trying to remove boulders and earth which had fallen on the houses, but they immediately required heavy machinery, including excavators. “Huge boulders and rocks cannot be removed without heavy machinery,” he added.

TOURISTS STRANDED: At least 25 foreign tourists, including Chinese and Japanese, have been stranded in Besham area of Shangla for two days because of landslides in the Karakoram Highway.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority asked the National Disaster Management Authority to dispatch helicopters to reach people marooned in Hazara and Malakand divisions.

“The provincial authority has requested NDMA to provide helicopters to start relief operation in inaccessible pockets,”

Latifur Rehman, spokesman for the PDMA, told Dawn in Peshawar. He said the district authorities needed helicopters in the two districts to distribute relief goods among the stranded people.

Torrential rains which started two days ago in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caused widespread damage to houses and triggered landslides in Malakand and Hazara.

According to the PDMA, the calamity has so far claimed the lives of 47 people. At least 37 others have suffered injuries. Over 145 houses have been damaged.

Mr Rehman said there were several pockets in Mansehra and Kohistan where local authorities could not distribute relief goods because of want of helicopters, adding that weather was still harsh in upper parts of the province. He said relief items had been dispatched to district headquarters in the affected areas.

A heavy landslide hit a market in Karora area, damaging five houses, two shops and a petrol pump on Monday. However, no human loss or injury was reported.

A local nazim said landslides posed a potential threat to a bazaar and a village and people had already moved to safe places.

Frontier Works Organisation officials said the Karakoram Highway was blocked at more than 20 points and floods had damaged a bridge in Kayal area.

Flash floods had swept away dozens of shops in Serband area on the outskirts of Peshawar. The rising water level in Kabul river has forced a large number of families in Camp Corona, near Peshawar, to move to safe areas.

[jorge namour]

- March 29, 2016 - 10:40

Two buses in Pakistan were "trapped" by a landslide characterized by the presence of large rocks

http://www.meteoweb.eu/2016/03/pioggia-di-rocce-in-pakistan-autobus...

https://translate.google.com.ar/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&...

Here is a great video and terrifying at the same time: two buses were "trapped" by
a landslide characterized by large boulders on the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan

On the way down the rocks acquire great speed, bouncing in a particularly hazardous.

Fortunately, despite the fear above all the occupants, there were no reported injuries.

[Howard]

Multiple Landslides in Northern India and Pakistan (Mar 22)

A rash of landslides have hit northern India and Pakistan in the past few days resulting in a surprisingly high number of fatalities.

1. Susam, Chitral, Pakistan

A mudslide triggered by heavy rainfall killed eight ninth grade students returning from exams.  Some reports have suggested 9 or 11 fatalities, and there is some confusion over whether this might have been an avalanche. More than a week of rains across northern Pakistan and other parts of the country has caused 79 deaths and at least 100 injuries in mudslides and house collapses.

2. Ramsu area of Ramban district, Jammu and Kashmi, India

Five people died, and three were injured, when a taxi was knocked off the road and into a river by a rockfall.

3. Multiple landslides on the Jammu-Srinigar highway

Reports indicate that the road between Jammu and Srinigar was closed by landslides at Sher Bibi, Panthyal, Battery Chashma, Marog and Anokhi Fall, trapping more than a thousand vehicles.

4. Multiple landslides on the Doda-Batote highway

A massive landslide at the Raggi Nullah blocked the sole highway linking these twin districts.  Reports suggest hundreds of vehicles were trapped.

5. A rockfall at Sarli Sacha Sharqi village

Five people, including four children, were killed when a boulder flattened a house in Sarli Sacha Sharqi village, in Pakistan’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir, late on Friday night. One child survived.

6. A landslide at Ochar Mohalla in Bagh District

A couple were killed by a landslide at Ochar Mohalla on the outskirts of Bagh City. A child survived the landslide.

7. Multiple landslides in Murree in Pakistan

Reports suggest that the Murree area of Pakistan has also been very badly affected by landslides.  Dawn reports that “Almost half the village of Graan-Ghoe was destroyed when a landslide damaged 30 homes, and the residents have no other choice but to wait out the rain under the open sky.  Houses were also destroyed in Potha, Sehana, Phagwari, Aloit, Sehrbagla, Masot, Dewal and Phaphril among other villages, where roads and other infrastructure worth billions of rupees was also damaged.”

8. A fatal landslide at Jaglote in Gilgit

A woman was killed in a fatal landslide at Jaglote.  Pamir Times reports that: “huge boulders fell from a nearby mountain hitting several houses and cattle sheds. As a result a woman was killed. Around a dozen sheep, goats and cows, other cattle, were also killed. Three houses were damaged.”

Source

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2016/03/22/multiple-landslides-1/

[KM]

http://gbtimes.com/china/massive-landslide-caught-camera-central-china

Massive landslide caught on camera in central China

 

A massive landslide was captured on camera on March 18 as it buried a highway in Anhua County, located in central China’s Hunan Province. Despite its scale, no casualties or vehicle damage have been reported.
 
Chinese state media CCTV speculate that a heavy rainstorm on Thursday night contributed to the minute-long landslide, which hit the G536 Expressway at around 9:10am.
 
Speaking on behalf of her father who shot the video, the woman surnamed Zou told CCTV that drivers had stopped after noticing stones and other debris falling quickly down the hillside.
 
Chen Liping, an Anhua County highway bureau official, was quoted as saying that a clear-up operation would begin immediately and the highway would be back open by the end of the following day.
 
With mountains and hills making up more than 80 percent of Hunan Province, the region is no stranger to landslides. In July 2014, five people were killed and over 1,300 homes were destroyed after torrential rains triggered a number of major landslides across the province.

[Howard]

Washington Neighborhood at Risk of Massive Landslide (Mar 18)

Chelan County Emergency management officials say a neighborhood near Wenatchee is at risk of a massive landslide at any moment.

Huge cracks are developing in the ground in a neighborhood near the Mission Ridge Ski Area. Water and power have been shut off to the Whispering Ridge Neighborhood.

Neighbors in the area have been asked to evacuate as the ground continues to shift and officials try to figure what has caused the potentially deadly disaster.

In the last week, the shifting ground has damaged the water line more than once. The county didn't think it was safe to put heavy machinery in the area to fix the line, so the water is shut off.

Neighbors who live in Whispering Ridge are so concerned they fear an "Oso-like catastrophic landslide".

Just above Wenatchee, the Whispering Ridge neighborhood provides a mountain top perspective. It's why Elliott Nelson and his wife built their retirement home there.

"It's gorgeous," Nelson said. "It's very quite here. It's very relaxing."

Bur for some time Nelson has been watching his neighborhood split in two.

"Every day that I went down the driveway I saw it getting worse," he said.

Chelan County EMA says unstable soil in the area caused a water main to rupture. It was repaired, but ruptured again on Wednesday. Crews determined the shifting land made it unsafe to fix.

"It's very unstable," said Rich Magnussen with Chelan County EMA. "We have significant ground movement in the area."

A geotechnical company has been hired to study the area and what they've found has forced the county to warn and evacuate the neighborhood.

"Our biggest concern is life safety, " Magnussen said. "We don't want anyone to get hurt or have any fatalities on this."

Residents in 26 houses have been advised to leave. Roughly a dozen could take a direct hit from what has been described as a "potential massive landslide." Two homes have already been declared unsafe to live in.

On Thursday, a home with elderly residents was evacuated. But Nelson is one of a few residents who decided to stay.

"There's no place that you are safe from anything," he said.

Officials say so far Nelson's land is not moving. Experts say the hillside could give way with little or no notice.

Sources

http://komonews.com/news/local/officials-chelan-county-neighborhood...

http://www.kiro7.com/news/risk-of-catastrophic-landslide-forces-eva...

http://mynorthwest.com/11/2936227/Risk-of-catastrophic-landslide-fo...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-3500386/Milan-San-Remo-cyc...

Milan-San Remo cycling race rerouted after massive landslide near Genoa

• Landslide forces Milan-San Remo race to be extended by four kilometres
• Several cars were wrecked by falling rocks near the town of Arenzano
• Frenchman Arnaud Demare eventually triumphed, with Ben Swift second 

Published: 11:48 EST, 19 March 2016 | Updated: 11:51 EST, 19 March 2016

A massive landslide caused the Milan-San Remo race to be re-routed on Saturday.

The first of the five so-called monument races was diverted between Genova Voltri and Arenzano, taking the peloton on to the A10 autostrada and adding four kilometres to the original 291km distance.

The landslide crushed several cars, leaving rocks and wreckage strewn across the road which was originally meant to host the race. 

[Mark]

Road to nowhere: Dramatic moment enormous landslide blocks a motorway in China

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3498671/Road-Dramatic-momen...

The huge landslide blocked a national motorway in Hunan Province, China
Earth and poured onto the road, sending up clouds of dust
A queue of cars were forced to turn around but no one was injured

Imagine you're driving along a road one minute... and the next it's gone.
Motorists in China experienced this today when a major landslide blocked a national motorway.
Dramatic footage filmed in Yiyang, Hunan Province today, shows masses of clay and sand flowing down from a slope to block the road.

A queue of cars line the road as an avalanche of earth pours onto the highway.
Clouds of dust fill the air as the landslide covers the road.
Trees too slide by - almost comically - before toppling forward as the mass of earth slowly comes to a halt.
Faced with no other option the cars begin to turn around as the clip ends