9 February 2012
Comparing initial landslide reports: Tumbi Quarry, Papua New Guinea and Kaikora, New Zealand
Posted by Dave Petley
http://lngwatchpng.blogspot.com/
Several people have asked what I mean by a proper landslide investigation with respect to the report on the Tumbi Quarry landslide. To illustrate, one might compare these two reports:
1. The Tumbi Quarry landslide report, prepared by the National Disaster Center.
2. Report on the landslide that blocked SH 1 and the railway line near Rosy Morn Stream south of Kaikoura on 10 September 2010, prepared by GNS Science as part of the Geonet programme.
The GNS report is not long, and nor is it highly detailed. However, it is throrough, it investiogates and describes the landslide properly, and it allows evidence-based conclusions to be drawn about he landslide and its triggers and causes.
This should be the minimum level of report for a major landslide event. Of course, in New Zealand (or indeed the UK) a landslide that killed 25 or more people would probably be investigated in very much more detail.
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.
With no doubt, the National Disaster Center has made a huge task in providing this first official report. This work is a good starting point for further and more detailed investigations.
Nonetheless, is it possible to assume that the report is deliberately vague about the role of the quarry in the triggering process if we take into account the benefit of the LNG project on the PNG’s economy and the money involved by ExxonMobil in the project ?
Are the long/Lat of the Mt Tumby slide known? Trying to find the site in earth google but not having much luck.
MarcH – Looking for the Tumbi Quarry slide? Its about 2.25 kilometers northeast of Tawanda, Papua New Guinea, just north of the river. No hi-res photos of the area in Google Earth so you won’t get much insight on the slide.
[…] over the last few days there appears to have been increased interest in the role of the quarry in the Tumbi Quarry landslide. Regular readers will remember that the National Disaster Center report indicated that the […]
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