28 June 2017

New landslide video: a large slip causes panic in China

Posted by Dave Petley

New landslide video: a large slip causes panic in China

A new landslide video has appeared on Liveleak and Youtube showing a landslide causing panic in China:

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The location of the landslide is not clear – the Youtube video describes it as Sichuan-Mao Xian, but this seems to be a confusion with the deadly slide on Saturday in Xinmo.  Before the person making the video starts to flee (understandably) they capture the progression of the early phases of the landslide:

landslide panic

A still from the youtube video showing the development of a landslide that caused panic in China

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The Liveleak video includes some images of the aftermath:

landslide panic

A still from a Liveleak video showing the aftermath of the landslide that caused panic in China

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Much of China has been suffering from very heavy rainfall in the last few days.  Xinhua is warning of potential floods as these rains continue:

Provinces including Guangdong, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi have seen water levels in 175 rivers rise beyond their warning levels with five rivers at record-high levels.  Flooding has forced more than 170,000 people to relocate in Hunan Province. In Jiangxi Province, 235,000 hectares of crops have been destroyed with direct economic losses of 4.5 billion yuan (660 million U.S. dollars).  More rainfall is forecast for southern and southwestern parts of the country in the next ten days, with precipitation in some regions likely to reach 300 millimeters within 24 hours, the National Meteorological Center said Tuesday.

A different article suggests that the heavy rainfall in the last few days has had serious impacts in Zhejiang and Guizhou:

In Zhejiang, by 7 a.m. Tuesday, 765,000 people have been affected and 149,000 had been evacuated to safer places. Around 4,800 houses were damaged, and direct economic losses have been estimated at 2.08 billion yuan (304.6 million U.S. dollars), according to the provincial civil affairs authorities.

Guizhou’s civil affairs authorities said, by 7 a.m. Tuesday, more than 1.26 million people were affected, 13 people were reported dead or missing, and 110,000 had been evacuated to safer places. A total of 56,300 hectares of agricultural crops were affected and direct economic losses reached 1.33 billion yuan.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Pasi Jokela for highlighting this event.