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

[SongStar101]

14 killed, 750,000 affected in Sri Lanka floods, mudslides

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-12-26/news/574205...

COLOMBO, Dec 26 (PTI) At least 14 people have been killed and 750,000 affected in Sri Lanka due to floods and mudslides caused by heavy rains across the country in the past three days as the air force deployed helicopters for rescue operations in the central hills today.

"At least 14 people are dead while 11 remain missing in Badulla," police said.

Helicopters were deployed after flash floods caused mudslides and several roads were rendered impassable due to incessant rains.

The worst affected was Rilpola town in the central hill district of Badulla where five people were killed as mounds of earth fell on homes.

The Disaster Management Centre said the number of affected people has gone up to about 750,000 while 17 of 25 administrative districts have been affected.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has formed a relief committee for victims manned by commanders of government forces.

Sri Lanka Railways said all train services from capital Colombo to the central hill areas of Kandy, Badulla and Matale were cancelled due to the severe weather conditions.

The Meteorological Department said that low pressure has increased into a depression located just off the southeast coast.

Strong winds up to 60 kph are expected and people have been asked to stay away from coastal areas.

At least 38 people were killed in October when mudslides buried homes of tea plantation workers in the country's central hills.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.nst.com.my/node/64121

Landslide forces Tasik Kenyir road closure

19 DECEMBER 2014 @ 11:44 AM

A massive landslide has forced the closure of the Tasik Kenyir road about 30km from Kampung Basung on Thursday evening. The incident started at about 5pm but became worst by 9pm forcing a complete closure of the road that lead to Felda Aring and Gua Musang. Pix from NST reader

HULU TERENGGANU: A massive landslide has forced the closure of the Tasik Kenyir road about 30km from Kampung Basung onThursday evening.

The incident started at about 5pm but became worst by 9pm forcing a complete closure of the road that lead to Felda Aring and Gua Musang.

A contractor identified as Chan who is involved with the construction of the second Kenyir dam said he could not return to the site as the road was blocked.

"I had to turn back. I was told that workers at the site could not return home and neither could they go to Aring because there was another landslide some distance from the construction site," he said.

A visit at the site showed the road was covered by loose earth, boulders and fallen timber.

The hill was still unstable as loud cracks could be heard from 20 metres away.

[Howard]

Rockslide Creates New Lake in N. Vancouver BC (Dec 7)

There's now a lake where much of the Seymour River used to be.

Massive rocks the size of houses - upwards of 50,000 cubic metres - gave way and landed in the river about one kilometre north of the top of Riverside Drive.

"This was actually a significant portion of the canyon wall that was sheered as it came down," said Bill Morrell, Metro Vancouver spokesman.

It took just six hours to form a new lake that extends 850 metres north from the slide site and six metres down at its deepest point, submerging bridges and hectares of forest.

"It is what it is now. The rocks are not moving. They're just settling down a little bit but that feature will be there," said Mike Mayers, Metro Vancouver's superintendent of environmental management. "It's the largest rock fall I've heard of on the North Shore in a long time."

"It is massive. It's a wall of rock that's blocking the canyon down there. The canyon is backing up slowly so as you go further up the river, the river is lower, but it's very deep here. It's a significant event. It's going to change the scope of the river, I believe," said resident Lara Wollitzer.

If you look at the rock down there, it looks like the whole canyon face just came down, said her friend Vanessa Iverson. And there's a whole new waterfall coming down there."

The impact is a permanent change to the geography of the North Shore. The new lake where canyons and rapids used to be has claimed at least two hectares of nearby forest, low-lying sections of the Fisherman's Trail and, as of Wednesday night, the Twin Bridge was submerged.

"We've got flooded forests. Those trees are going to die. They're going to be falling over. We have flooded trails. The water is coming up and down and up and down. We're probably going to lose a few of those. They're going to completely wash away," he said.

Metro crews are now trying to figure out how the bridge can be removed and possibly salvaged.

"We have no other option. It's a permanent feature. It's a lake, not a river and you usually put a bridge over a river," he said.

As a precaution, Metro closed all of the trailheads that lead to the Seymour River. The fences and guards should be gone by Friday but Metro is going to be stepping up efforts to keep people away from the slide site and Twin Bridges area, which remain very dangerous, Mayers said.

"There are hundreds if not thousands of trees that are under water. They're coming down all the time. The trail is underwater," he said. "We're going to be putting in place very permanent closures of that very impacted area."

The slide has also likely changed the Seymour River's viability as salmon habitat Mayers said after a meeting with a representative from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. "It's effectively now a fish barrier."

Sources

http://www.theprovince.com/Rock+slide+creates+permanent+lake+North+...

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Rock+slide+creates+permanent...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/north-vancouver-rock...

http://www.nsnews.com/news/seymour-rock-slide-natural-engineers-say...

[Derrick Johnson]

Many missing in deadly Indonesia landslide

Eight people confirmed dead and search under way for scores of others after mudslide buries homes in Java province. Last updated: 13 Dec 2014 05:38

Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia [Reuters]

A landslide in Indonesia triggered by torrential rains has left eight people dead, destroyed 105 houses and left at least a 100 people missing, officials say.

Rescuers struggled on Saturday to reach those missing after the mudslide buried houses in a hilly district on the country's main island of Java the previous night.

Hundreds of rescuers, including police, soldiers and residents, were digging through the debris with their bare hands, shovels and hoes for the people still missing. 

They were later helped by tractors and bulldozers arriving in the district.

Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen, reporting from Jakarta, said the rescue efforts were going slowly because the area was still very unsafe.

"It has been raining non-stop for two days, and that is the reason this huge chunk of mountain came down - a whole village has been wiped away," our correspondent said.

"Around 700 rescue workers and volunteers are in the area, but work is painstakingly slow. They can only use manual equipment.

"It is very dangerous for rescue workers as landslides could happen at any minute."

Workers were using life detection equipment in the area, but had been unable to locate any survivors.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said 379 people had been taken to temporary shelters.

"Jemblung village was the most affected," he said in a statement. "Rescuers are still trying to find more victims. The challenge is that the evacuation route is also damaged by the landslide."

"At the moment eight people have been found dead and we are still looking for 100 unaccounted for."

"Conditions on the ground are pretty tough and we need heavy machines to clear the road that has been covered by the landslide."

Hundreds have been evacuated from the site in Banjarnegara, in central Java, where media footage showed a flood of mud and water cascading down a wooded mountain side.

Seasonal downpours cause frequent landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/12/indonesia-landsl...

[Derrick Johnson]

Four die, one missing in
landslide

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan | Headlines | Sun, November 23 2014, 12:29 PM

At least four people died and a 4-month-old baby went missing in a landslide that hit Sibio Bio village in Sibabangun, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra, at 1 a.m. on Saturday.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Saturday evening that five houses nestled at the foot of a cliff were buried in the landslide. What was left of the houses was then swept away by a strong current in a nearby river during heavy rain.

The four victims were identified as Saut Marita Zebua, 28, Ariyani Telaumbanua, 20, Dalizato Zebua, 20, Yunita Telaumbanua, 18. Butet, the baby daughter of Dalizato and Yunita, is still missing.

“The search and rescue team removed the bodies of the four victims who died in the landslide. They are still searching the river for the baby. The terrain is difficult as it is hilly and forested,” Sutopo said.

Acting Central Tapanuli regent Syukran Tanjung said the search and rescue team had scoured a 1-kilometer radius from the landslide to the sea in search of the baby on Saturday.

“We will continue the search on Sunday,” he said over the phone on Saturday evening.

He said the bodies of the four victims, who were husbands and wives, were found hugging their partners under the debris and land. They were buried on Saturday.

The mitigation division head of the Central Tapanuli Disaster and Mitigation Agency, Syafaruddin Ananda Nasution, blamed incessant rain over the past two days and deforestation upstream for causing the landslide.

“The cliff above the victims’ houses may have collapsed because it no longer had trees,” he said over the phone.

Sutopo said Central Tapanuli experiences landslides that claim lives almost every year. Most fatalities have been low-income families.

Floods and landslides also hit other areas in Sumatra, including Aceh, Agam regency and South Solok regency in West Sumatra and Mukomuko in Bengkulu.

The Aceh Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has urged residents to remain alert as more rain and storms are imminent and could continue until the end of the year.

BNPB data reveals that landslides have claimed the most lives in natural disasters this year. As of this month, there have been 337 landslides that claimed 267 lives.

“There are 274 regencies and cities located in areas that are prone to landslides. As many as 124 million people live in those areas,” he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/23/four-die-one-missing-...

[Mark]

Family's shock after huge chunk of garden suddenly disappears in landslip after heavy rainfall 

• Several tonnes of mud and rubble sent crashing down 100ft cliff in Dorset
• Residents were initially unaware of the gaping hole at end of their garden
• It was only after a neighbour knocked on door and told them of damage 
• Owner said they 'couldn't believe it - there was a huge hole in the garden'
• They are working with council to prevent any more of cliff coming away
  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2844240/Family-s-shock-huge...

A family were left shocked this morning after they woke up to find a huge chunk of their garden had suddenly disappeared in a landslip.

Several tonnes of mud and rubble were sent crashing down the 100ft cliff after heavy rainfall last night, onto a popular beachside car park below near Poole, Dorset.

The residents were initially unaware that a gaping hole had been left in the plush £2million property's lawn - leaving them without 10ft of their garden.

[Tracie Crespo]

www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/20/landslides-trigger-increase-...

Landslides trigger increase 
in chili price

The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru | Archipelago | Thu, November 20 2014, 8:03 AM

The main road connecting West Sumatra and Riau was blocked by a landslide early on Tuesday, disrupting the supply of chili and consequently causing a rise in the price of the commodity.

“In the past, if the road in West Sumatra was blocked, we could still hope the supply could be fulfilled from Karo. Now, Karo can no longer supply us,” Liston, a trader at Arengka traditional market in Pekanbaru, said Wednesday.

Since the continuing eruption of Mount Sinabung, Riau has been more dependent on West Sumatra for its chilies, rather than Karo regency in North Sumatra.

Liston said the price of chilies had reached Rp 130,000 (US$10.4) per kilogram, up from the normal price of Rp 28,000, since the landslide that occurred in Tanjung Pauh village, Pangkalan Koto Baru district, Lima Puluh Kota regency, 5 kilometers from the border with Riau.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/two-killed-in-switzerla...

http://news.sky.com/story/1374456/switzerland-landslide-kills-two-p...

Two killed in Switzerland landslide as building collapses

Press Association

PUBLISHED16/11/2014 | 14:25

A landslide has buried a residential building in southern Switzerland, leaving two people dead, four injured and an unknown number missing.

Police spokesman Marco Tutti said the landslide occurred early this morning in the village of Davesco, near the city of Lugano, when heavy rain caused a hill to collapse and cover the building with masses of mud.

Mr Tutti said police and firefighters are on the scene searching for an unknown number of missing people.

The four injured people were rushed to a nearby hospital.

[Andrey Eroshin]

02.11.14. Lanslide in Yushu, Qinghai, China

http://www.mininews.com.cn/content/7069.html

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

[Andrey Eroshin]

Rescuers search for buried villagers after a rain-triggered landslide in Xiaoxin Village, Dongchuan District of Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Oct. 28, 2014. Nine people were buried in the landslide which struck the village at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday.(Xinhua)

http://english.sina.com/china/p/2014/1028/749736.html