30 December 2016
Jharkhand and Hpakant: two deadly mine waste landslides in the last two days
Posted by Dave Petley
Jharkhand and Hpakant: two deadly mine waste landslides in the last two days
In the last two days there have been two deadly mine waste landslides, in Jharkhand in India and Hpakant in Burma (Myanmar), killing substantial numbers of people:-
A mine waste landslide at Jharkhand, India
News reports indicate that a substantial landslide occurred at the Rajmahal coal mine in Godda district, Jharkhand at 7:30 pm local time on 29th December. The reports and image indicate that this was a large landslide in a waste pile that covered a number of excavators and other machines working at the pit bottom. The number of people buried is slightly unclear, but the best estimate appears to be about 22. At the time of writing nine bodies have been recovered. The likelihood of survivors appears to be remote.
There are several images of the landslide on various news reports, although none provides a decent perspective as yet. The best image I have found is this one:-
The coal mine landslide at Jharkhand, India on 29th December. Image from Manob Chowdhury via scroll.in
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Yet another deadly Jade mine landslide in Hpakant, Burma
Meanwhile, the deadly toll of mine waste landslides in Burma continues, an issue that I have described with depressing regularity over the last two years. Yet again a large dump collapsed, burying at least 20 people, on 28th December. Vietnam Plus has a brief report with a photograph of the site:
The site of a landslide at a jade mine in Kachin State, Myanmar (Photo via Vietnam Plus and the New York Times)
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As I have noted in my recent article in New Civil Engineer, we have both the knowledge and the skills to avoid these types of landslides from causing loss of life. In developed countries mine waste landslides do occur occasionally, but rarely cause deaths (although an exception might be tailings dam failures). That these landslides wreak such havoc in poor countries remains a scandal.
Previous post about the depressing toll of mine waste landslides in Burma:
- Who was to blame for the Hpakant jade mine landslide?
- Hpakant – another serious Jade Mine landslide in Burma
- Mining in Burma and hydroelectric power in China: two major landslides with familiar causes this weekend
- Burma jade mine landslides: an annus horribilis
- Pharkant, Burma: a liquefaction landslide in mine tailings (with a stunning video)
- Disastrous mining related landslide in Burma / Myanmar
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.
Indeed Dr. Dave, it is sobering to know we could have made a great difference with site safety as a priority and real-time monitoring. In the mining context, there is really no reason for this to happen without early warning, except … uhh we just do not want to monitor.
In the civil sphere we are always eager to engage any professionals who are ready to embrace proactive monitoring of at-risk sites.