4 November 2010
The Rissa landslide – new (old) video available online
Posted by Dave Petley
The original and some would say best landslide video is of that of the April 1978 Rissa landslide in Norway. I have mentioned this slide before – and indeed have hosted a link to the video, although that link is now dead. In looking for background material for the amazing Port Chibatao landslide in Manaus (if you haven’t looked at that video then you are really missing out) I found that the section of the original documentary is now available online:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3525831186169203832&q=mud%2Bslide&hl=en#
The Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Server site has a brief summary of the landslide here. The landslide, which had a volume of 5 to 6 million cubic metres, was triggered by a small excavation for the foundation of a barn, and in particular by the emplacement of placement of the soil that was excavated as a berm at the edge of Lake Vatnen. This is reminiscent in many ways of the Manaus event, which was reportedly triggered by a mechanical excavator. The slide moved over a period of less than 10 minutes. Fortunately, only a single person died.
As an aside the commentary of the video is wonderful. It is a great shame that no-one speaks in that way anymore!
Similar events that I have featured in posts include:
- The St Jude landslide in Canada
- The Namsos landslide in Norway
- The Nachterstedt landslide in Germany
- The Hoyerswerda landslide in Germany
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
i remember being shown this on VHS at university and the Head of Dept stressing to us the lengths he had gone to get hold of the video footage and how it couldnt be found anywhere else at that time. havent spent several years trying to locate the footage (its probably how istumbled across your landlside blog int he first place!!) its excellent to see it up online. sterling work!
Wonderful – So much better than the two teeny-tiny, pixelated video clips I’ve been showing my classes!
Thanks!
[…] has flowed down the valley system illustrates the extreme mobility of quick slay landslides, as the Rissa landslide video […]
[…] I have featured a number of other quick clay landslides over the years, including examples from Sweden, Norway and Canada, and a similar type of landslide from Brazil. The most famous example is the Rissa landslide, also in Norway, for which another excellent video is available. […]
The link in the article for the video is no longer active.
But the documentary is available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q-qfNlEP4A