6 January 2011

Thursday round-up – landslides in the last week

Posted by Dave Petley

Occasionally, I provide a round up of landslide events and news that has caught my eye in the last week. This is of course the low season for landslides worldwide, so fortunately the number of events is low:

1. Cliff collapse in Dover, UK

On 1st January there was a mild flurry of interest in concerns that a rockfall on chalk cliffs near to Dover in Kent, in SE. England, might have buried walkers on the beach below.  A search team was deployed and the the all clear was quickly declared. The timing of the fall was interesting, given that the weather was neither wet nor stormy.

2. Fatal landslides in the Philippines

Heavy seasonal rainfall in the Philippines has triggered a number of landslides, especially in Southern Leyte.  The toll included three children killed in St Bernard, well-known as the site of a huge landslide in 2006, and a woman killed by a landslide in the Mount Diwalwal area of Compostela Valley province.  A landslide in Butuan reportedly killed two gold miners in a tunnel.

3. A fatal rockfall near the Mont Blanc tunnel entrance in Italy

On Sunday a French tourist was killed in Entreves in northern Italy when a boulder struck his car close to the Mont Blanc tunnel.  The passenger in the car received minor injuries.

4. A fatal landslide in Brazil

Two girls were reportedly killed, with another missing, in a mudslide in Petropolis, Brazil.

5. A fatal landslide in Thailand

Early this morning a landslide killed a man in Khao Noi, in Songkla,  Thailand.  The slide buried a dwelling in which the owner was asleep.