Bijie – a large rockslide, caught on video – in China

As we move through the northern hemisphere spring towards the summer we are most definitely moving into landslide season.  The latest notable event occurred on Sunday 8 May 2022 in Bijie village in Guizhou Province.  This event appears to be poorly reported in English language media at the moment, but there are better reports in the local media.  For example, 163.com reports that landslide occurred at Baiyan Community in Bijie City, Guizhou.  It is estimated that 25,000 cubic metres of rock were involved in the landslide, which appears to have detached from a steep mountain scarp.  The news reports indicate that the site remains unstable, with another 10,000 cubic metres being considered to be in a dangerous state.

The same reports indicate that there is likely to have been three fatalities from the event, although this in unconfirmed.

This image, also from 163.com, gives a very strong indication of the nature of the collapse:-

The rockslide at Baiyan community in Bijie, Guizhou on 8 May 2022. Image from 163.com.

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There is a somewhat dramatic version of the videos from this event posted to Youtube – apologies for the music and the editing, but you get a good idea of the nature of the event:-

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You can also view it on the Accuweather site.  It’s worth a look.

In the videos, note also the fresh-looking rockfall scars on other parts of the rockface.  It is perhaps unsurprising that this area had been previously identified as having a high level of rockfall hazard. Reports indicate that the collapse followed rainfall, but the reported volumes do not seem exceptional for this area.

There are also reports of another rockslide in China, this time in Sichuan Province on Monday 9 May 2022.  The location is reportedly in Rongxian County.  Five people are reported to be missing.  At the time of writing the details of this event are sketchy.