Geoeye has now collected a high quality image of the landslides in Brazil. This post makes some comparisons of this news image and one collected before the event, drawing some provisional conclusions about the landslide occurrence in this area.

Obtaining decent satellite imagery of the devastating Brazil landslide disaster has proven to be exceptionally difficult due to the presence of clouds across the affected area.  This is probably the reason why the Disaster Charter activation has yet to yield any imagery.  However, NASA has managed to collect an ASTER image of the affected area (hat-tip to Dalia Kirchbaum for highlighting this to me) and has now posted the image online.    The image …

I thought a summary of  the current levels of known losses from the three big landslide and flood disasters that have greeted the New Year would be helpful: 1. Brazil The latest update on losses of life in this disaster is as follows, according to the Brazil Civil Defence Agency: Nova Friburgo: 389 deaths Teresopolis: 324 deaths Petropolis: 65 deaths, Sumidouro: 22 deaths Other towns: 3 deaths Total: 803 fatalities, …

The lack of posts on this blog will not have passed unnoticed I am sure, and I can only apologise.  Unfortunately, my day job is insanely busy at the moment, and I have no time for research, let alone blog posts.  This will ease within a fortnight, if not before, so please be assured that the blog is not on the way to oblivion. During my unfortunate lull in posts …

On 17th October an amazing quick clay type landslide occurred at Porto Chibatão in Manaus, Brazil. The slide was caught in action by a CCTV camera. This video is featured here. It is one of the most impressive landslide events every caught on camera,

Live Leak has an impressive video of a large debris flow striking and destroying a house, reportedly in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil : http://www.liveleak.com/e/8d9_1269224599

Thanks to a video posted on the BBC website, I have managed to locate the Niteroi landslide, which is a garbage dump slide that is believed to have killed over 200 people.  The slide is at the following coordinates:  22.893° S, -43.085°W On a Google Earth image this area looks like this:  A zoomed in view looks like this (the crown of the landslide is at the bottom of the …

AP is reporting that over 200 people have been buried in last night’s landslide in Niteroi, Brazil: “A top Rio de Janeiro state security official says at least 200 people have been buried in the latest landslide to hit the area. Civil Defense subsecretary Pedro Machado tells Globo television that the slide plowed into a slum in the city of Niteroi. Machado said Thursday that anyone there at the time …

AP is reporting that over 200 people have been buried in last night’s landslide in Niteroi, Brazil: “A top Rio de Janeiro state security official says at least 200 people have been buried in the latest landslide to hit the area. Civil Defense subsecretary Pedro Machado tells Globo television that the slide plowed into a slum in the city of Niteroi. Machado said Thursday that anyone there at the time …

 O Globo in Brazil is reporting that another large landslide (in Portuguese “deslizamento de terra” for those looking the original website) struck the Niteroi area overnight, burying up to 50 houses, following the multiple slides yesterday.  The slide (shown below in an image from O Globo) occurred at Viçoso Jardim, in the Niteroi suburb of Cubango.  At least five people have been killed, with an unknown number of people missing.  …