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

[Tracie Crespo]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/us/california-mudslides.html

Mudslides Strike Southern California, Leaving at Least 13 Dead

By JENNIFER MEDINA, THOMAS FULLER and TIM ARANGO JAN. 9, 2018

Photo

Debris and mud covered parts of the 101 freeway in Montecito, Calif., on Tuesday.CreditMike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department, via Associated Press

CARPINTERIA, Calif. — First came the fires. Now come the floods.

Heavy rains lashed the hillsides of Santa Barbara County on Tuesday, sending one boy hurtling hundreds of yards in a torrent of mud before he was rescued from under a freeway overpass. His father, though, was still missing. A 14-year-old girl was buried under a mountain of mud and debris from a collapsed home before being pulled to safety by rescuers as helicopters circulated overhead, searching for more victims.

Still, those children could count themselves among the lucky.

At least 13 people — and possibly more, the authorities warned — were killed on Tuesday as a vast area northwest of Los Angeles, recently scorched in the state’s largest wildfire on record, became the scene of another disaster, as a driving rainstorm, the heaviest in nearly a year, triggered floods and mudslides.

The wreckage of the downpour, coming so soon after the wildfires, was not a coincidence but a direct result of the charred lands, left vulnerable to quickly forming mudslides.

For residents and emergency workers, still weighing the devastation of the fires, it was a day of grim rituals resumed: road closings, evacuations, downed power lines, heroic rescues and a search for the dead.

“There’s still lots of areas that we haven’t been able to get to due to debris blocking roadways,” said Mike Eliason, a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

By fire or rain, natural disasters have brought death and destruction to California’s coasts, and further inland, in recent months, adding to the growing catalog of natural catastrophes in the United States that was punctuated by three devastating hurricanes, Harvey, Irma and Maria. Last year, extreme weather that scientists say is partly attributed to climate change caused more than $306 billion in damage, a record that surpassed even the $215 billion cost of natural disasters in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

And that figure was compiled before the heavy rains struck California this week. Fires have been a scourge of California — dozens of people were killed in wildfires in Northern California in the fall — but rains bring their own perils, especially in places where the earth has been scorched by fire, leaving it susceptible to floods and dangerous mudslides.

Hundreds of emergency workers, many of whom had weeks earlier battled the massive fire that denuded hillsides and made the dirt so unstable, searched on Tuesday for survivors with the help of Coast Guard helicopters and heavy equipment to clear blocked roads. And flooding and mudslides closed a stretch of Highway 101, a crucial artery along the coast south from Santa Barbara, as well as portions of the 110 freeway.

Photo

Emergency workers search through debris and damaged homes after a mudslide in Montecito, Calif., on Tuesday. CreditSanta Barbara County Fire Department

As the mud rushed into lower-lying neighborhoods in Montecito, a wealthy hillside community where many celebrities have homes, the power went out and gas lines were severed, said Thomas Tighe, a resident.

Sometime after 2 a.m. Mr. Tighe heard a loud rumbling, which he took to be boulders crashing down the hills. In the dark of the night, he could make out his cars floating away. Wearing a wet suit and booties, he used an ax to break down the fences around his house, which had been holding back the mud.

By dawn the devastation — and human toll — became clearer. Just 50 feet from Mr. Tighe’s home, firefighters found a body, wedged up against a neighbor’s car. Down the street, a couple and their three children, including an infant, sought safety on their roof.

“The neighborhood got pummeled,” Mr. Tighe said. “We were lucky in the scope of things.”

Anticipating the floods, Santa Barbara County officials issued a mandatory evacuation order on Sunday evening for roughly 7,000 residents, but most chose to stay in their homes.

“We went door to door,” said Gina DePinto, the communications manager for Santa Barbara County. “But many refused to leave.”

Across Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, even in areas spared the worse of the floods, people were once again weighing the attractions of California life against its dangers.

For the second time in a month, Mark Carrillo, who lives in the coastal community of Carpinteria, ignored orders to evacuate his home at the top of a hill. During the fires last month, he decided to stay put to make sure no embers landed on his roof.

“There’s no place I’d rather be in the world,” he said.

Mr. Eliason, the fire department spokesman, said he worked with a team of firefighters that rescued eight people, including the 14-year-old girl who was in a house that was forced off its foundation and crashed into a stand of trees. It took two hours for firefighters to cut her out of the debris.

Photo

Firefighters successfully rescued a 14 year-old girl, second from right, after she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed home in Montecito on Tuesday.CreditSanta Barbara County Fire Department

Creeks that during much of the year would only have a trickle of water burst their banks and “went where they wanted to go,” Mr. Eliason said.

“It was waist deep in the worst kind of mud you can think of,” he said. “You sink when you walk into it. You can’t pull your legs out.”

The rains began several hours after midnight Tuesday and in some cases fell an inch per hour; by late afternoon the highest recordings of total rainfall were in a section of Ventura County, where more than five inches had fallen in Ortega Hill. Over the weekend, as forecasts began calling for rain, the authorities began warning of possibly dangerous floods and mudslides in the area that had been consumed by wildfires in what was known as the Thomas Fire, which burned over 280,000 acres last month spanning Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, and became California’s largest wildfire on record.

As rescuers searched for survivors on Tuesday afternoon, the weather forecast, at least, offered a respite. According to the National Weather Service, the rains would taper off by nighttime, and the rest of the week was forecast to be dry and clear.

Jonathan W. Godt, who coordinates the landslide hazards program at the United States Geological Survey, said the area of the Thomas Fire was prone to debris flows for two reasons: the terrain and the nature of the fire.

“That’s some really rugged topography,” Dr. Godt said, with steep slopes and elevation differences.

The fire, in a mostly chaparral landscape, also burned exceptionally hot, Dr. Godt said. A fire changes the physical properties of the soil, making it less absorbent. “It becomes much more erodible,” he said.

As rainwater runs off and flows downhill, it picks up soil, trees, boulders and other debris and eventually collects in a stream channel. The mix of water and debris, often with a consistency close to wet concrete, can then continue traveling at high speed down the streambed.

“You bring that down at 20 miles per hour and it can do a lot of damage,” Dr. Godt said.

[KM]

https://www.rt.com/uk/415094-seven-sisters-cliff-collapse/

UK’s iconic Seven Sisters cliffs caught on camera shattering, falling into sea 

An enormous chunk of Britain’s iconic white cliffs has collapsed into the sea, as Storm Eleanor battered the country. Dramatic footage shows a huge slab of chalk stone breaking away, before crashing into the sea.

The footage was uploaded to social media and has since gone viral, garnering more than 7,000 views in less than 24 hours.

The footage, taken by a National Trust staffer, was filmed at the Seven Sisters beauty spot at Birling Gap in East Sussex at the height of the storm. Winds of up to 80mph battered the coast, apparently taking the cliffs down with them.

“During the recent storm, there was a cliff fall on the chalk cliffs at the Seven Sisters," a National Trust spokesperson said.

“This was captured on video by a member of the National Trust team. This stands as a reminder of the danger of standing near the cliff edge and we advise visitors to act sensibly when visiting the area.”

The National Trust looks after 775 miles of coastline around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including the white cliffs. More than 350,000 tourists visit Birling Gap and Seven Sisters cliffs annually, but in recent years visitors have been warned to stay well clear of the edge due to recent erosion and to a horrific accident last year.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/mudslide-in-southern-chile-kil...

Mudslide in southern Chile kills five, at least 15 missing

A mudslide on Saturday tore through a small village in southern Chile near a popular national park, leaving five people dead and at least 15 missing after a night of torrential downpours, authorities said.

A video taken from a helicopter by Chilean police showed a vast swath of the remote town of Villa Santa Lucia, near Chaiten in coastal Patagonia, buried beneath the mud as the landslide plowed its way down a flooded river valley.

Four Chileans and a male tourist whose name and nationality have not been disclosed were died in the mudslide, authorities said.

Rescue workers were continuing to search through the debris for at least 15 people.

The mudslide also destroyed a school and several homes and roadways as well as a voting center ahead of Chile´s presidential election on Sunday.

President Michelle Bachelet declared the area a disaster zone.

"I have ordered rescue workers to put all the necessary resources toward protecting the people of Villa Santa Lucia," she said on social media.

More than 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) of rain fell in 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said, but weather conditions were expected to improve later in the day.

Villa Santa Lucia borders Chile's Corcovado National Park, a popular tourist region of volcanoes, fjords and vast forests.

The nearby Chaiten volcano erupted in 2008, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/nsw/three-trapped-after-l...

One dead, two trapped after landslide at walking track in Wentworth Falls in Blue Mountains

Updated29 November 2017 - 03:06pmfirst published at 11:09am

Three National Parks contractors were identifying rock fall hazards at the Blue Mountains on Wednesday when a landslide 10 metres above hit, killing one of the workers and seriously injuring the others.

The injured men, 26 and 27, were in the process of being winched to safety but their colleague, whose age has not yet been released by police, was not as fortunate.

National Park director David Crust said the contractors were identifying "rock fall hazard" when the landslide hit around 11.40am at Wentworth Falls.

A full risk assessment had been done. "It was part of a programmed work," Mr Crust said.

"The matter is now under investigation. It's a tragic event."

Superintendent Darryl Jobson said the operation to rescue the two survivors was "sensitive".

"It took about one hour for emergency responders to access the site," Superintendent Jobson told reporters at the scene.

"This is an ongoing operation. The priority is the safety of our responders."

The NSW Ambulance service said one of the survivors "has suffered multiple fractures and is currently being transported by helicopter to Westmead Hospital in a serious condition"."The other patient remains on scene a stable condition, awaiting extrication by helicopter," they said.

It was reported the man who died will not be removed on Wednesday and will remain under police guard. A report will be prepared for the coroner.

Emergency services responded to reports of people injured in the rock fall. Critical care paramedics had been winched in to assess the patients, and rescue teams from police and fire and rescue were also on scene.

Police said the trio were not tourists.

Photo: Seven News

Mike Burgess told the ABC he was bushwalking below the mountainside track that collapsed when he heard a "big explosion" that sounded "like dynamite going off".

"But I knew it wouldn't be dynamite, it would be a big slab," he said.

Scenery at the National Pass, near where the accident occurred.

Photo: Johan Palsson

"We heard all the blooming rocks smash down through the bush … right after that I heard a bloke scream.

"I'd say there were some pretty bad injuries down there."

Efforts to rescue the two men were expected to be "protracted", an ambulance spokesman said, and could be hampered by the weather which he said looked to be turning bad.

Fifteen ambulance crews including three rescue helicopters were responding to the incident.

One Fire and Rescue crew was also on the scene and two more were on their way, a Fire and Rescue NSW spokesman said.

A command post has been established at the end of Falls Road, where officers from Blue Mountains Local Area Command, police rescue, Polair and National Parks and Wildlife Service are also on the scene.

Police asked members of the public to avoid the area.

An announcement on the National Parks and Wildlife Service website says Wentworth Pass is closed "due to a rockfall on National Pass".

The pass closure affects the Den Fenella walking track, National Pass and the Wentworth Pass loop walking track.

Large rocks previously fell on the National Pass walking track at Wentworth Falls in November last year.

After further signs of increasing instability the track was temporarily closed in September this year, following an assessment of overhead rock stability.

"Falls of this nature occur throughout the park and the procedures are to help ensure the safety of everyone," NPWS Blue Mountains acting area manager Arthur Henry said at the time.

The September closure covered the area between Valley of the Waters and Slack Stairs, "due to the risk of further falls from a dangerous, unstable section of rock above the walking track".

It remains unclear if this is the same portion of the track.

The National Pass walk attracts 90,000 visitors annually.

SafeWork NSW has been notified about the incident.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99359086/it-has-happened-again-sec...

It has happened again: Second slip in Auckland's Birkenhead car park

Last updated 15:30, November 29 2017

A second landslide has torn away another chunk of a car park in Auckland's Birkenhead, and is creeping towards businesses.

What began as a crack in the public car park in August, has steadily worsened. The back half of Rawene Rd car park slipped down a gorge on October 8. 

Now, a second landslide has appeared directly next to the initial slip, on the western side, and the edge of it is a lot closer to the back of Birkenhead's Mokoia Rd shops. 

Another slip as torn away part of Birkenhead's Rawene Rd car park, and it's creeping closer to businesses.

The kerb that joins the Rawene car park access road to the pavement is split apart like a broken zipper. The slip is visibly a lot steeper in appearance compared to the initial slip in October but not as deep.

Auckland Transport's Mark Hannan first announced there had been another slip via media release on November 28 at 5pm.

Danielle Grant

Engineers coordinate inspections and safety measures.

This morning, Hannan said there was no overnight movement of the site following the second slip.

At least 10 engineers were on site on Wednesday morning.

This morning, Hannan said there was no overnight movement of the site following the second slip.

At least 10 engineers were on site on Wednesday morning.

"Building inspectors have assessed surrounding properties and there continues to be no indication of a risk to those properties," Hannan said.

The kerb joining the road to the pavement is split apart like a broken zipper.

"Specialists are continuing to monitor the site and stabilisation work has been paused while the impact of the second slip is being investigated.

"In the interest of public safety, pedestrian and vehicle access to private car parks via the slip road is now prohibited."

Hannan said a piece of equipment, which is described as similar to a platform, fell about three metres. Hannan confirmed no-one had been injured.

A second slip hits Birkenhead, a little over a month after the October incident.

Kaipātiki Local Board chairwoman Danielle Grant was at the slip this morning.

Grant said the board was waiting for geotechnical reporting and a stabilisation plan to gain a better understanding of the next steps. 

"The main thing businesses are after, at the moment, is clear and ongoing communication."

'ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN'

Claire Balfour, chairwoman of the nearby Mokoia Apartments body corporate, said residents were concerned about the significant drop in the car park when it first appeared almost three weeks before the slip happened.

She said the asphalt had originally been poured onto unstable land without a retaining wall and was "an accident waiting to happen".

Auckland Transport has defended its management of the gaping hole that has appeared where the car park used to be.

AT's chief infrastructure officer Greg Edmonds said the car park had washed away into the gorge below it following "pretty significant rains" over the past 12 months.

Edmonds said AT had been monitoring the site for 12 months and it took appropriate action when the crack appeared, closing part of the car park and fencing it off for public safety.

[KM]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4927832/One-dead-one-injure...

Horror at Yosemite: One dead and one injured after rocks 'the size of an apartment building' tear off of famous El Capitan mountain and bury climbers

• The rockslide occurred at 1.55pm at Yosemite National Park in California on Wednesday 
• Climber Peter Zabrok said he watched 100ft by 100ft pieces of granite fall
• He narrowly avoided death but watched in horror as it buried others below
• Emergency services are still working to remove people from the rock face 
• Zabrok told DailyMail.com the sound was like 'a thousand freight trains derailing at once - but louder' 
• Around 30 people were feared to have been following the popular El Capitan route when the rocks fell  

One person is dead and another has been injured in a rockslide at Yosemite National Park.

It happened on the popular El Capitan hiking route at 1.55pm on Wednesday afternoon.

Around 30 people were feared to have been climbing on the rock face at the time. 

Survivor Peter Zabrok, who spoke to DailyMail.com on Wednesday night as he made his way back to base, narrowly avoided death. 

He had just climbed above the piece of the rock which tore off when he watched from a 'birds eye view' as it fell away, crashing down on others beneath him and his climbing partners. 

A deadly rockslide occurred at Yosemite National Park in California on Wednesday, killing one and injuring at least one other. It is shown above as it happened at 1.55pm on Wednesday 

'We were climbing the route where the rockfall occurred and we got a bird's-eye view of the rockfall. 

'I observed a 100 foot by 100 foot by 100 foot piece of granite peel off and fall 2000 feet to the ground. It was the size of an apartment building' he said. 

Zabrok said the sound of the fall was like 'a thousand freight trains derailing at once but louder'. 

'There were two people walking at the base and the appeared to get hit and completely buried. 

'We are past it and we are safe. Had we been underneath it we would have died for sure. I give thanks to God and my Saviour Jesus Christ,' he said. 

The fall trigger three smaller slides, he said, which left emergency workers in danger. 

'There have been three subsequent enormous rock falls and this rescuer is in tremendous peril,' he said, immediately after the first one.  

[KM]

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7f4_1505170494

Melting permafrost flows like lava through Tibetan Plateau 

Impressive footage has emerged of melting permafrost slowing churning up grassland on the Tibetan Plateau. 

The video, filmed in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China's southwestern Qinghai Province on September 7, shows mud and grass being churned up in a process known as solifluction phenomenon.

It happens because permafrost is impermeable to water - any soil on top of it may become waterlogged and slide downslope due to gravity. 

Several families and a farm were affected by the incident. 

The farm has had to relocate.

 

 

[Yvonne Lawson]

Swiss glacier collapses after hundreds evacuated

Part of the Swiss alpine glacier Trift in the country's south collapsed on Sunday, but caused no damage or casualties and residents evacuated from the area can return home, police in Valais canton said.

More than 220 people living in the ski resort of Saas-Fee had to leave their homes on Saturday as authorities feared a collapse of the glacier could trigger an ice avalanche which could reach the village.

 

The lower part of the glacier collapsed early Sunday but did not reach the houses, allowing residents to return and for a local road to reopen, though hiking trails remain closed, police said in a statement.

 

Geologists had recently noticed significant movement along the "tongue" of the Trift glacier, up to 130 centimetres in a single day, local authorities said.

 

"There remains only about a third" of the unstable tongue of the Trift glacier, police said, adding that the area is under surveillance and "the situation will be continually reevaluated."

 

The glacier had been under observation since October 2014, when the area was closed for three weeks. With a return to colder temperatures, the situation stabilised and the access ban was lifted.

 

But since the start of the week, movement had increased on the lower part of the glacier.

 

In late August, a massive rockfall triggered an avalanche which buried eight hikers in another valley in the Swiss Alps, near Bondo.

Source:  https://www.thelocal.ch/20170910/swiss-glacier-collapses-after-hund...

[Tracie Crespo]

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/heavy-rains-lash-west-sikki...

Heavy rains lash West Sikkim, several areas affected

Gangtok, Sep 4 Heavy rains lashed several parts of Yuksam in West Sikkim during the past few days causing landslides and severely damaging roads in the area.

Normal Life was affected in Yuksam as heavy rains led to landslides across Yuksam-Dubdi GPU. Heavy damage to roads, houses and other infrastructure was reported from several places in Yuksam.

The Yuksam Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) has alerted residents living at vulnerable areas like landslide prone zones and advised them to move to safer locations.

Landslides have been reported from almost the entire stretch of Yuksam Subdivision, Yuksam SDM Sonam R Lepcha said.

Gangtok, Sep 4 Heavy rains lashed several parts of Yuksam in West Sikkim during the past few days causing landslides and severely damaging roads in the area.

Normal Life was affected in Yuksam as heavy rains led to landslides across Yuksam-Dubdi GPU. Heavy damage to roads, houses and other infrastructure was reported from several places in Yuksam.

The Yuksam Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) has alerted residents living at vulnerable areas like landslide prone zones and advised them to move to safer locations.

Landslides have been reported from almost the entire stretch of Yuksam Subdivision, Yuksam SDM Sonam R Lepcha said.

e.vnexpress.net/news/news/landslides-kill-2-injure-7-in-vietnam-s-northern-mountains-3636707.html

Landslides kill 2, injure 7 in Vietnam's northern mountains

By Phuong Son   September 4, 2017 | 10:12 am GMT+7

Local authorities visit the injured victims at the hospital. Photo courtesy of Yen Bai Newspaper

A 8-month-old child and her mother perished.

Heavy rains lashed the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai late Sunday, triggering landslides that killed an 8-month-old child and her mother and injured 7 other people.

The local authorities have provided the families of dead victims with VND5 million ($220) each and the injured VND3 million each. They are also scrambling to evacuate landslide-prone households. 

Heavy rains and flash floods also hit Yen Bai last month, killing 14 people and washing away hundreds of homes.

https://www.kcaw.org/2017/09/04/landslide-closes-halibut-point-road...

Landslide closes Halibut Point Road in Sitka

Posted by KCAW News | Sep 4, 2017

Approximate location of the slide, which occurred at around noon today. (KCAW image)

UPDATE – 1:30 p.m. Monday, September 4

Officials in Sitka have closed Halibut Point Road at the rec to assess a landslide which occurred in the 4300-block at around noon today (9-4-17).

No injuries or property damage have been reported as a result of the slide. Some residences in the vicinity of Vallhalla Drive have been evacuated as a precaution.

Local authorities are in direct communication with KCAW. We’ll keep you posted as more information about this event becomes known.

UPDATE – 1:15 p.m. Monday, September 4

Authorities in Sitka have closed Halibut Point Road from the rec and beyond to assess a landslide that crossed the highway around noontime today (Monday 9-4-17).

There’s no word yet of any damage or injuries, or the extent of the slide. The Sitka Fire Department has been in direct contact with KCAW. We will update you as more information becomes available.

https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/landslide-obstructs-vehicular-m...

Landslide obstructs vehicular movement along Besishar-Chame road se...

Published: September 04, 2017 10:16 pm On: Nepal

  

RAMJI RANA

Police is seen walking along the Chame-Besishar road section, blocked by landslide at Arghalebesi in Lamjung district, on Monday, September 4, 2017. Photo: Ramji Rana

LAMJUNG: The vehicular movement along the Besishar-Chame road section has been halted due to landslide at Arghalebesi in Lamjung Marsyangdi Rural Municipality-3 in Lamjung district.

After the landslide, the road connectivity with Manang district have been disconnected since yesterday morning.

Chairperson of the Marsyangdi Rural Municipality Arjun Gurung said vehicular movement would be halted for couple of days as boulders of landslide with huge stone had blocked the road.

He further said up to 40 metres of rock have cascaded onto the road.

Khudi Police Post in-charge Sub Inspector Nawaraj Bhattarai said vehicles plying via Rambazaar, Syange in Lamjung to Manang district have been stranded on the road. “It will take at least couple of days to clear landslide debris as rocks are too big in size,”.

Vice Chairman of Marsyangdi Rural Municipality Hom Bahadur BK said landslide swept away walking trails and people have been taking risks while walking in the area.

Meanwhile, Road Division Office Damauli field engineer Gautam Kumar Shrestha said preparations are underway to open the blocked road and traffic would resume by Tuesday.

He further said an excavator will be used in coordination with the local administration as JCV failed to clear the landslide debris and crack huge stones.

Acting Chief District Officer Tirtha Bahadur Adhikari has urged the chief of Road Division Office to open the road in earliest.

“Its been more than two decades the track was opened to connect Chame, district headquarters of Manag, however, the road has not been upgraded where the locals are compelled to make a perilous journey along the road,” locals lamented.

Meanwhile, vehicles would take at least 8 hours drive along the 65 km road from Besisahar of Lamjung district to reach Chame in Manang district.

[Howard]

More on yesterday's massive landslide in southern China: 

An enormous rockslope failure occurred at 10:40 am August 28 at Zhangjiawan Township, Nayong County. 

The slide buried 34 houses; seven people were recovered alive but injured. 

Although there are 3 known fatalities with 32 people missing, the likelihood of any finding other additional survivors is vanishingly small.

Over 2,000 people, including police, firefighters and medical staff are at the scene and more than 80 emergency vehicles, 20 life detectors, 17 digging machines and 8 drones are involved in the rescue work.

This appears to be a massive rockslide, with a fair amount of toppling as the landslide developed.  Unusual for a non-seismic slide, the failure seems to have developed from the ridge crest and then to have entrained debris from lower on the slope.  The result is a landslide with a morphology that is more reminiscent of an earthquake-induced slide.

The trigger for the landslide remains unclear.

Sources

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/28/c_136562990_4.htm

http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2017/08/29/zhangjiawan-landslide-1/