11 May 2013
First news of a costly landslide in Mizoram, India
Posted by Dave Petley
Various news reports are emerging of a substantial landslide in Laipuitland, Mizoram, in the far east of India. The Hindu reports that eight people have been confirmed as having been killed, a further 11 are missing and that nine people were injured. The trigger appears to have been a thunderstorm.
More information should emerge in the next 24 hours.
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.
This landslide occurred in downtown Aizawl (Laipuitland), the capital of Mizuram, at about 3 am local time, after a thunderstorm. Aizawl has a population of about 300,000 and is perched at about 1 km elevation on an anticline ridge of the Burma accretion thrust-fold belt in eastern India. I was in Aizawl for a week at the end of April, part of a team of Geo-Hazard International (GHI) that includes landslide expert Kevin Clahan. Steep terrane and other factors make the town very susceptible to landsliding. Several slow-moving landslides are currently active in and around the town.