29 November 2010
Update on the Tawang Monastery and a good article on the tribulations of Pakistan
Posted by Dave Petley
Update on Tawang
Thanks to reader Adrian Moon for tracking this down – an image of the landslide affecting the Tawang Monastery site in India has been posted on the Echo of Aranchal website:
Whilst it is hard to place the image, the most likely spot appears to be the west-facing slope section, which looks to have a landslide morphology:
The cycle of disaster in Pakistan
The BBC News website has a very nice story here about the impact of the most recent floods on the rebuilding and development of the earthquake affected areas of northern Pakistan. The piece follows with a nice quote from a local resident who has been affected by both disasters:
“It was easier after the earthquake,” says Tahir Khan. “We had lost just the buildings. This time, everything is gone – the buildings, the fixtures, the generators, the roads and the land on which it was all built.”
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.
According to the Environment Protection Society of Tawang “the landslide’s volume has doubled since last week” See: Landslides continue to threaten Tawang monastery, The Economic Times, Mumbai , 30 November 2010 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Landslides-continue-to-threaten-Tawang-monastery/articleshow/7015372.cms
I’ve just discovered photographs of the Tawang land and mudslides on the facebook page of the Environmental Protection Society of Tawang. ‘Behind Tawang Monastery’ is the only location information given but Dave seems to have got it roughly right, although closer study may fill in details: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10157&id=100001810118127
Latest update on the Tawang landslide, with Dr. Dave mention, from The Sentinel (Guwahati, Assam) 8 January 2011):
http://www.sentinelassam.com/arunachal/story.php?sec=2&subsec=7&id=59758&dtP=2011-01-08&ppr=1#59758