Very kindly AGU decided to hold a birthday lunch to celebrate the second anniversary of daveslandslideblog (actually the geobloggers lunch, but who’s counting?). I started the blog two years ago as a bit of an experiment to see what would happen, and have really enjoyed putting it together (and I have learnt a huge amount too). During this time I have made 437 posts. I put a web counter on …

Like 16,000 other Earth and environmental scientists, I am heading off next week to the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, which is held in San Francisco. I have attended several times before – it is an amazing meeting – but this year there is added spice provided by the new Natural Hazards grouping, which means that there is far more of interest for me. The landslide specific session …

Below is the presentation file of the keynote lecture that I gave today at the Chilean Geological Congress in Santiago. I have removed a few of the figures as they have not yet been published. You should be able to download and to view the file below: Damage caused by earthquake landslides http://www.authorstream.com/player/player.swf?p=278331_633948356710621250 See more presentations by Dr_Dave | Upload your own PowerPoint presentations The powerpoint file is hosted on Authorstream, which …

Xinhua has now published two images of yesterday’s loess landslide in Shanxi, which killed 23 people, including eight young children, in Zhangjiaju Village, in Zhangzishan Township of Zhongyang County:The reports are that this was a “loess avalanche” with a surface area of about 20,000 cubic metres. An investigation into the cause is ongoing.

Probe International image of a landslide The Three Gorges Dam in China is one of mankind’s greatest achievements or a folly on a grand scale, depending upon your point of view. Whichever is correct, there is little doubt that its construction is an extraordinary engineering achievement. The final aim of the project was due to be achieved this month as the lake is finally elevated to its maximum level. However, …

Loss of coral reefs is a widely reported and serious problem, caused by a range of factors including changes in sea temperature and chemistry; pollution; fishing; development; and mining. Reefs are often also damaged by severe storms. It is is thus unsurprising to read this report of serious damage to the coral reefs at Orchid Island, to the south-east of Taiwan, as a result of Typhoon Morakot: “Coral reefs off …

Latest update on the landslides in the Philippines here. The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Parma continues to rise. Fortunately, according to the track map (from here) the storm has now moved out into the South China Sea and is heading for Hainan Island in China:In its wake the typhoon has left a train of landslide devastation. Combining reports from inquirer.net and GMANews.tv, the picture appears to be …

It is interesting to note that in all three of the large earthquakes upon which I have worked (1999 Taiwan, 2005 Pakistan, 2008 China), the media has tended to initially focus their coverage upon urban areas, whilst the real story has actually been in the rural hinterland. The reasons for this are complex of course, and include the power of the imagery of people buried / being rescued from buildings. …

I am struggling to keep up with the natural disasters at the moment. The main point of this post is to highlight the continued threat of Typhoon Parma to the northern Philippines. The current track forecast has it making landfall in the next day or so in the northern part of Luzon. The forecasts are still that it will stall as it makes its way across that area – this …

The Chi-Chi earthquake struck Taiwan on 21st September 1999. To remember that event, a range of organisations in Taiwan have organised a scientific conference aimed at sharing the lessons learnt from the earthquake. I was lucky enough to be invited to speak on landslides triggered by the event – my paper is tomorrow – but I thought I would also post on some of the most interesting presentations as they …