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

[Howard]

Rockslide Closes Hwy 2 in Washington (Jan 10)

A major rock slide closed a 9-mile stretch of Highway 2 in central Washington over the weekend.

The rock slide buried the highway with over 10 feet of debris just east of Orondo, northeast of Wenatchee.

Highway 2 is the northernmost route across the Cascade Mountains that remains open year-round in Washington state, connecting the Everett area with points in Central and Eastern Washington.

Sources

http://kval.com/news/local/rock-slide-closes-highway-2-in-central-wash

http://mynorthwest.com/625/743442/Earthquake-tracker-for-Seattle-an...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.worldnewsenespanol.com/309_hispanic-world/3557719_mudsli...

Mudslide ruptures gas pipeline in central Bolivia

BOLIVIA RAINS/PIPELINE | 12 de Enero de 2016

A natural gas pipeline. EFE/File

La Paz, Jan 12 (EFE).- A mudslide triggered by torrential rains ruptured a gas pipeline in Cochabamba, a region in central Bolivia, but the leak has been controlled, state-owned oil company YPFB said Tuesday.

The leak occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday, YPFB CEO Guillermo Acha said in a Twitter post.

An alert was declared on the Carrasco-Cochabamba pipeline due to the drop in pressure, "which immediately activated the closing of the valves," Acha said.

Domestic gas supplies in western Bolivia will not be affected because although volumes will drop while repairs are being done, "transportation is being optimized" via the gas pipeline that runs into the highlands, YPFB said.

Two 26-person emergency teams will be deployed all day in the area where the mudslide occurred.

Two people were killed when a vehicle crashed into the Carrasco-Cochabamba pipeline in Cochabamba on Nov. 28.

The crash damaged the pipeline and a fuel spill was contained in the hours after the accident.

[Yvonne Lawson]

Furious commuters face travel chaos after LANDSLIDE at London-bound station

FRUSTRATED rush hour commuters face travel chaos this morning after a LANDSLIDE saw debris fall on to the track at a London-bound station.

Following a landslip at Barnehurst station on Monday evening, trains will not be running on the Bexleyheath line.

Operator Southeastern could not immediately confirm how much rubble fell on to the tracks. 

Some trains have been diverted via Sidcup and Woolwich Arsenal. 

A very limited bus replacement service is running on Southeastern between Dartford and Lewisham via Bexleyheath.

This is not the first time a landslide has caused travel chaos in Barnehurst. In 2014, all services were suspended as Network Rail carried out emergency repair work. 

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/633753/Landslide-Barnehurst-statio...

[Mark]

UK: Teessiders urged to avoid popular coastal route after cliff landslip near Staithes

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/teessiders-urged-av...

Staithes Coastguard warn walkers after large section of the cliff at Port Mulgrave collapsed into sea - Sections of Cleveland Way footpath affected

Teessiders are being urged to stay away from a popular coastal walking route due to a landslip.

Staithes Coastguard has warned those walking on sections of the Cleveland Way footpath to keep away from the coast near Port Mulgrave.

A large section of the cliff has collapsed into the sea on Saturday.

In a statement, the Coastguard said: “We fear there could be further collapses as the coast along the popular long distance walking route is now potentially very unstable, there is currently no access onto the beach at Port Mulgrave.

“Because of these landslips, the surrounding area may well be very unstable.

“We are urging everyone not to cross the cordons or go to the cliff edge further along and try and look down at the collapsed cliff.

[Mark]

Woman tells how her car was left hanging in mid air after being hit by 100-ton landslide

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/woman-tells-how-car...

JANE Else's Nissan Micra was forced across the road and over the ­barrier, with only snow poles ­stopping it from plunging down the steep embankment.

A WOMAN yesterday told how her car was forced over a barrier by a landslide and left hanging in the air.

Jane Else was driving on the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful in Argyll when 200 tons of rubble came crashing down the hillside.

Her Nissan Micra was forced across the road and over the ­barrier, with only snow poles ­stopping it from plunging down the steep embankment.

The mental health nurse said: “One minute the road was OK and the next it was like a concrete ­barrier appeared out of nowhere.
“The car was forced across the road, turned around and shoved up on the barrier.

“The back end was ­sitting on one of the snow posts. That was the only thing that stopped me going down the glen.”

She was driving to ­collect a friend from ­Glasgow airport at the time of ­Wednesday ­morning’s landslip. The road ­reopened the next day.

Jane, 50, has been recovering at home in Lochgilphead after being released from hospital in Paisley on Hogmanay.

She said: “I’ve been lucky that I’ve only got severe bruising and a hairline fracture to my sternum. I’m very lucky to have survived.”

[Mark]

Huge Jurassic cliff landslide exposes hundreds of prehistoric fossils from 65 million years ago

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/huge-jurassic-cliff-landslide-...

A Jurassic cliff landslide has exposed hundreds of prehistoric fossils from 65 million years ago sparking a rush from hordes of eager fossil hunters.

The huge land mass in the village of Charmouth collapsed into the sea last week, bringing the remains of extinct sea creatures known as ammonites to the surface.

Prized for their intricate spiral shells, ammonites are sea molluscs that became extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs.

Most of the remains discovered are centimetres across, but a few lucky treasure hunters have been unearthing samples measuring a couple of feet in size.
Other fossil hunters are finding fish and marine reptiles that became trapped in layers of mud millions of years ago.

Tony Gill, from the Charmouth Fossil Shop told the Western Morning News: "I looked across the beach the and realised it looked very different.

"It's the biggest fall I've seen down here for years, if not the biggest. Now we need the tide to come in and wash the clay."

Mr Gill said the landslide was so big it would take years before the larger blocks of the 1,000 tons of cliff that had come down were eroded by the sea.

It means that for the foreseeable future, there will be a steady supply of fossils for locals and visitors, some of whom are travelling from hundreds of miles away.

[SongStar101]

New landslide sweeps through Myanmar jade mine

http://news.yahoo.com/deadly-landslide-hits-myanmar-jade-mine-03533...

Rescuers were searching through mud and rubble on Saturday after a new landslide buried workers -- possibly dozens -- in a remote jade mining region in northern Myanmar, the second such incident in just over a month.

The landslide took place on Friday afternoon in Hpakant, Kachin State, the war-torn area that is the epicentre of Myanmar's secretive billion dollar jade industry.

"The rescue process has now started and we are searching for dead bodies but we can't tell the numbers yet," Nilar Myint, an official from Hpakant Administrative Office, told AFP.

An AFP photographer on the scene said mechanical diggers had been brought in to sift through a huge pile of debris that had slid down a steep hillside.

Locals report as many as 50 people might have been buried by the wall of mud and stones.

But a second official involved in the rescue operation downplayed that number.

 

Miners ride on a truck near a jade mine in Hpakant, Myanmar's Kachin State (AFP Photo/Ye Aung Th …

"According to what officials from nearby villages have told us, just three or four people are missing at the moment," Myo Thet Aung, also from the Hpakant Administrative Office, told AFP.

By mid-afternoon Saturday officials said they still had not found any bodies.

The same area was hit by a massive landslide last month that killed more than 100 people. Locals says dozens more have died throughout the year in smaller accidents.

The region is remote, with little phone coverage and poor roads making it difficult to obtain precise and swift data after such incidents.

Those killed in landslides are mainly itinerant workers who scratch a living picking through the piles of waste left by large-scale industrial mining firms in the hope of stumbling across a previously missed hunk of jade that will deliver them from poverty.

- Demand from China -

Myanmar is the source of virtually all of the world's finest jadeite, a near-translucent green stone that is enormously prized in neighbouring China, where it is known as the "stone of heaven".

The Hpakant landscape has been turned into a moonscape of environmental destruction as firms use ever-larger diggers to claw the precious stone from the ground.

But while mining firms -- many linked to the junta-era military elite -- are thought to be raking in huge sums, local people complain they are shut off from the bounty.

In an October report, advocacy group Global Witness estimated that the value of Myanmar jade produced in 2014 alone was $31 billion and said the trade might be the "biggest natural resource heist in modern history".

Much of the best jade is thought to be smuggled directly to China.

With little help from authorities, Hpakant community groups have pooled limited resources to help workers injured in the accidents which have become commonplace as the diggers creep closer to villages.

Heroin and methamphetamine are also easily and cheaply available on Hpakant's dusty streets, a side effect of Myanmar's massive narcotics trade.

Locals have launched desperate campaigns to try to persuade Myanmar's quasi-civilian government, which replaced outright military rule in 2015, to force mining firms to curtail their rapidly expanding operations.

But their pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy swept landmark November 8 elections and will form a new government early next year.

But it has not yet outlined any firm plans for the jade trade beyond pledges for a more equitable allocation of profits from the country's natural resources.

Analysts say reform will be difficult given the entrenched military interests in the trade and the remoteness of many of the mines, some of which are in the hands of ethnic rebel fighters.

[Mark]

Oregon: Landslide buckles Hwy 42, closing road indefinitely

http://koin.com/2015/12/26/landslide-buckles-hwy-42-closing-road-in...

ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Department of Transportation says a landslide has buckled Oregon Highway 42, also known as the Coos Bay-Roseburg Highway.

The Oregonian reports the roadway in southern Oregon is expected to be closed indefinitely near the border of Coos and Douglas counties.

Authorities say the 200-to-300-foot-long slide has covered most of the two-lane state highway with mud and rock.

Jared Castle of the Oregon Department of Transportation says the roadway will be closed for at least a week, but it’s too early to say for certain.

The slide happened on Thursday afternoon on a section that has been involved in an effort to straighten out some severe curves along the Middle Fork of the Coquille River.

Heavy rain this month saturated the ground, defeating efforts at erosion control.

[Howard]

Massive Landslide in Southern British Columbia (Dec 16)

An earthquake last week in the B.C. Interior may have set off a large-scale landslide in the Whistler backcountry, according to local safety officials.

The slide took place last Wednesday, Dec. 16 on Fingerpost Ridge, a sub-ridge of Mount James Turner, east of Lesser Wedge Mountain. Early analysis indicates the slide was roughly three to four kilometres long and 0.75 kilometres at its widest point.

No threat to the public has been reported, although the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) is urging backcountry users in the area to use caution and be aware of unstable slope conditions.

Ryan Wainwright, emergency manager for the SLRD, said it's likely a 3.6-magnitude earthquake that struck near Kamloops in the early hours of Dec. 16 set off the slide.

"We don't usually dedicate a lot of resources to (geological events) that don't have an impact on people, but I do know that it's an unusual time of year to have a landslide that's triggered by anything other than an earthquake," Wainwright said.

The size of the slide came as a surprise to Whistler avalanche safety expert Wayne Flann.

"I've never seen something like this happen since I've been here, where a huge ridgeline collapses and creates a huge landslide like that," he said. "It's quite a big event."

Source

http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/officials-say-earthquake-...

[Howard]

Fatal Landslide in Southern Peru (Dec 22)

A large landslide hit near the town of Tutumbaru on the road between Ayacucho and San Francisco, burying a boom truck and killing the driver. The body of the driver was later recovered but another person has been reported missing.

Approximately 12,000 cubic meters of mud and debris collapsed into the valley below.

Source

http://www.andina.com.pe/agencia/noticia-continua-limpieza-via-ayac...