31 August 2011
Garbage dump landslide in the Philippines
Posted by dr-dave
The Daily Mail has an online article this morning with a set of images of the garbage dump landslide that was triggered by Typhoon Nanmadol at the Irisan dumpsite in the city of Baguio in the Philippines earlier this week. The garbage reportedly buried at least 20 houses. Three bodies of children have been recovered; two further victims are believed to be buried in the waste.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032012/Garbage-landslide-Five-people-missing-rubbish-floods-city-dump-site-walls-collapse-Typhoon-Nanmadol.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2032012/Garbage-landslide-Five-people-missing-rubbish-floods-city-dump-site-walls-collapse-Typhoon-Nanmadol.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
The cause of the landslide appears to be the collapse of a retaining wall.
Back in 2008 I posted a review of garbage dump landslide incidents – this is still available here. Garbage dump landslides remain a serious problem in less developed countries, but at the moment they are poorly understood.
Dave Petley is the Wilson Professor of Hazard and Risk in the Department of Geography at Durham University in the United Kingdom. His blog provides a commentary on landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
Not to make light of a serious situation, but wow, this reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite movies, Idiocracy.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwi4y_the-great-garbage-avalanche-of-2505_fun
Wow – Great connection to Mike Judge’s underrated movie Idiocracy. Fact is stranger than fiction. Tragic.
Wow is this a regular thing? There was a garbage disaster in 2001 in the philippines and hundreds were killed.
shoking!