Boulder meets house: the power of landslides

Boulder meets house: a video was posted on Youtube last week that dramatically illustrates the power of landslides.   The limited accompanying text indicates that it was shot on the NH1A road between Udhampur and Srinigar in northern India, at Peerah. This location is easily identified on Google Earth – it appears to be hilly terrain with plenty of evidence of landslides:-

Boulder meets house: Google Earth image showing the location of Peerah in northern India.

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The video shows a large boulder detaching from the slope and rolling down, striking and completely demolishing two small houses:-

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The boulder does not move far, but it picks up speed very dramatically:-

Boulder meets house: a still from a new Youtube video.

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Unsurprisingly, the effect on the properties is catastrophic – in all probability an utter disaster for the owners of the buildings:-

Boulder meets house: a still from a new Youtube video.

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The text accompanying the video suggests that this landslide was caused by humans.  I suspect that this is the location – the topography seems to fit and the powerlines can be seen in the video:-

Boulder meets house – the location of the landslide at Peerah in northern India.

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If so then it does appear that this has been the location of slope cutting, reportedly for road widening but in reality I suspect it has been excavation for construction materials.  I think that the houses destroyed by the landslide are located in the bottom right of the image, close to the bridge.  The Daily Excelsior has a news report of the event, which blocked the road for five hours:-

Official sources told the Excelsior that Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was blocked by heavy boulders near Peera bridge in Nashri area of Ramban district at around 11.45 am today.  He said road widening work is going on at this point and few weeks earlier also, there was heavy landslides in the same area. The highway suffered massive damage and it took long time to the National Highway authorities to partially restore highway and open it for one way traffic.