One of the most admirable science projects at NASA at the current time is an attempt to create a global landslide and flood warning system using the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission satellite data. TRMM using a precipitation radar system to provide near real time data on the intensity of rainfall in the tropical and subtropical regions. NASA then make these data available on the TRMM website. The usefulness of these …

Just a quick post to highlight some of the more notable recent fatal landslides as we move into the Asian rainy season: 07th June 2008: Castle Peak, Hong Kong: A man and woman were killed in Hong Kong on Saturday when severe rainstorms caused a landslide that crushed the hillside hut they were living in (Reuters image below): 07th June 2008: Wangkha, Bhutan: Fourteen Indian labourers working on a hydropower …

Now that the Tangjiashan crisis is over, it is clearly time to move on to other things. I will posta retrospective on that event when the dust has settled. For now I think we should allow the Chinese to bask in the success of their achievement. To change the topic, I thought it would be interesting to post an analysis that I did a couple of years ago. The analysis …

Over the last thirty years or so there have been a series of nasty landslides under apartment blocks on the edge of cities. Examples that spring to mind include: 1972: Po Shan Road, Hong Kong – 67 fataltities1993: Highland Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 48 fatalties1997: Lincoln Mansions, Hsichih, Taiwan: 28 fataltites On 26th March 2008 there was an interesting landslide in the picturesque town of Alesund in Norway, once again …