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

[Kojima]

Thank you, Robyn Appleton.

I'm glad that we have the landslides blog, and I'm going to post the landslide incidents as a comment from now on.

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* Landslide deaths much higher than thought - study [swissinfo.ch]

* Landslide deaths much higher than thought – study [euronews]

LONDON (Reuters) – Landslides killed more than 32,000 people across the world from 2004 to 2010 – up to 10 times more than previously thought, the first detailed study of the disasters showed on Thursday.

The new data on the scale of the problem should force governments to rethink how they dealt with the slides which have left a trail of destruction from China to Central and South America, researchers said.

“Landslides are a global hazard requiring a major change in perception and policy,” said David Petley, lead researcher on the study at Britain’s University of Durham.

“There are things that we can do to manage and mitigate landslide risks such as controlling land use, proactive forest management and guiding development away from vulnerable areas.”

Information, collected in a database in Durham and published in the journal Geology on Thursday, showed 32,322 people died in 2,620 landslides across the world from 2004 to 2010.

Previous estimates ranged from 3,000 to 7,000 deaths over the same period, said the researchers.

The sharp difference in the estimates was probably due to the introduction of better data collection methods, they added.

Last month, floods and landslides killed more than 100 people in southern Russia after two month’s average rainfall fell in a few hours.

In June, about 30 people died and more than 100 went missing after a landslide in eastern Uganda.

Landslides are mass movements of rock, debris and soil, often caused by earthquakes, heavy rainfall and human activity such as timber harvesting or mining.

The Durham Fatal Landslide Database identified hotspots – among them the south-west coast of India, Sri Lanka, the southern and eastern coasts of China, the central Caribbean islands, Indonesia and mountains from Mexico to Chile.

The most fatal landslides were recorded in May to October and the most common trigger was monsoon rains, the study showed.

The Durham researchers said there was a good chance they had actually underestimated the number of landslide deaths because they had had to leave out a number of fatalities recorded following earthquakes.

It was often unclear whether people had been killed by a landslide or other after effects of a quake, they added.

Scientists have said landslides could become more common, because of rising populations, more intense rainfall and the clearing of forests.

Climate change increased the odds for the kind of extreme weather sometimes linked to landslides and other disasters, a report said last month.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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# They identified hotspots, which is around the area of "7 of 10", and we know the real cause.