Whilst it has dropped from the news during the winter period, the Attabad landslide crisis in Pakistan rumbles on, with dire consequences for the population on the north side of the barrier.  In the next few days the high passes into China will close again, rendering the population of Gojal isolated once again.  The Pamir Times featured an article a few days ago highlighting how tough conditions are once again: …

Occasionally I post a round up of stories on natural hazards, mostly on landslides, that have caught my eye in the last few days.  Here is the latest set: 1. Taiwan landslide hazard management Taiwan is one of the most landslide prone places on Earth as a result of its climate and geological setting. In the last 18 months it has suffered three high profile slope accidents – the extraordinary …

The vast number of  landslides triggered by the May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, and in its aftermath has been extensively described, not least on this blog.  One of the documented impacts of these landslides was the well-documented loss of habitat of the giant panda (A. melanoleuca) due to extensive forest loss.  However, there is a great deal more to that story than meets the eye, as a newly-published paper by Vina …

The passage of typhoons past or across Taiwan often leads to the generation of exceptionally high rainfall totals that, when combined the steep topography and weak rocks, inevitably triggers extensive landsliding. The late season typhoon Megi, whose erratic course meant that it somewhat unexpectedly brought heavy rainfall to Taiwan at the end of last week, was no exception.

In the last 24 hours Typhoon Megi has tracked from east to west across northern Luzon in the Philippines (map from here): At the time of landfall this was a true super typhoon.  Even in its current weakened state it is generating gusts of up to 195 kph. Inevitably, it has brought very heavy rainfall to the north of the Philippines, although to date there is no news of any …

 Yesterday was the annual United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction, which this year had a strong urban theme.  To highlight the event, which has been somewhat overshadowed by the extraordinary rescue of the Chilean miners, UNISDR put out a press release highlighting the costs of disasters worldwide.  The statistics are somewhat sobering: So far in 2010 more than 236,000 people have been killed in disasters 256 million people have …

The clean up at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar tailings debris flow accident site continues today, with continued concern about the potential for pollution of the downstream rivers from the environmentally-damaging debris.  I do not wish to speculate on the cause of this accident, but will note that foundation failure is a well-established failure mode for tailings dams – see for example the excellent wise-uranium.org site, which has a section on typical …

First, an apology in advance.  I am just en route to Chengdu in China, where I will stay until Saturday.  Whilst this provides an opportunity to return to Beichuan, which will be very interesting in the context of the rainfall-induced landslides this summer, it presents some other challenges.  The most serious of these is that Blogger is blocked by the Great Firewall of China, so I will not be able …

First, an apology in advance.  I am just en route to Chengdu in China, where I will stay until Saturday.  Whilst this provides an opportunity to return to Beichuan, which will be very interesting in the context of the rainfall-induced landslides this summer, it presents some other challenges.  The most serious of these is that Blogger is blocked by the Great Firewall of China, so I will not be able …

News today of three different incidents from around the world: 1. New Zealand NZ Herald reports that a milk train hit a landslide in Manawatu Gorge.  Fortunately there were no injuries, or even a need to cry over spilt milk… 2. India Bangalore Mirror reports that three coaches of the Thiruvananthapuram-Mangalore Express train were buried by a landslide in a narrow cutting at Mulunthurthy.  Three people were injured, plus there …