17 June 2008

Recent landslide round-up

Posted by Dave Petley

Just a quick post to highlight some of the more notable recent fatal landslides as we move into the Asian rainy season:

07th June 2008: Castle Peak, Hong Kong: A man and woman were killed in Hong Kong on Saturday when severe rainstorms caused a landslide that crushed the hillside hut they were living in (Reuters image below):

07th June 2008: Wangkha, Bhutan: Fourteen Indian labourers working on a hydropower project in Bhutan were killed when a boulder fell on their truck. (Very pleasing graphic from Kuensel Online below to illustrate the event:)

11th June 2008: Mogok, Myanmar: Torrential rains caused a landslide that killed 30 miners in Mogok, military-ruled Myanmar’s “Valley of Rubies” gem zone.

14th June 2008: A Mw=6.8 earthquake triggered landslides that killed at least 12 people (Reuters image below of the Inn at Komanoyu hot springs hotel in Kurihara that was hit by a landslide. Seven people were killed here).

14th June 2008: Heavy rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh has triggered landslides in and around the town of Itanagar that have killed about 20 people.