23 October 2018

Jomda County: a large, valley blocking landslide in Tibet on 11th October

Posted by Dave Petley

Jomda County: a large, valley blocking landslide in Tibet on 11th October

As I noted in my post yesterday regarding the Yarlung Tsangpo landslide in Tibet, there was another very large landslide event in that region on 11th October 2018.  This landslide locked the Drichu / Jimsha River at Bolo Township in Jomda County, although the blockage now appears to have cleared.  The landslide was a very substantial rockslide:-

Jomda County

The landslide at Bolo Township in Jomda County, Tibet on 11th October 2018. Image via Caixin.

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Reports suggest that the landslide occurred at 4 am local time, and fortunately resulted in no loss of life.  Fortunately the lake barrier was overtopped and breached within a couple of days, reducing the downstream danger.  The landslide appears to have had reasonably high mobility, spreading both upstream and downstream in the main valley, which will have reduced the height of the barrier:-

Jomda County

The landslide at Bolo Township in Jonda County, Tibet on 11th October 2018. Image via Caixin.

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Some reports suggested that there were fears of a second landslide at this site:-

“Even as dangers from a barrier lake formed by a landslide which blocked the Drichu (Chinese: Yangtze River) tributary of Jinsha River at Bolo Township of Jomda County in Tibet’s Chamdo (Qamdo) City receded following a burst through the blockade, another danger keeps growing, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 14.

“The report cited China’s Ministry of Emergency Management as warning Oct 13 that the possibility of another landslide was growing. It was stated that a 300-metre-long crack had been spotted on the surface of the mountain where the previous landslide had occurred, increasing the risk of the river being cut off again.”

However, no reports that I have seen to date suggest that a second landslide has occurred to date.  Unfortunately, as yet I have been unable to track down the precise location of this landslide.