The Pamir Times is running an interesting story today that clearly puts me in my place!  Here it is: “Hunza River lake would not burst, David Petley’s report is wrong”:  Asad Zamin, DC GilgitPosted on May 5, 2010 by Pamir Times PT Report Gilgit, May 4: The report prepared by Dr. David Petley is wrong and the lake formed on Hunza River is not going to burst. Government experts have …

The Pamir Times today has some images of the spillway and dam at the landslide dam at Attabad, in Hunza, Pakistan.  This picture shows the spillway itself: Constructing such a spillway has been a Herculean effort by all involved, who deserve considerable credit.  However, the structure is narrower and smaller than is ideal, and the materials at the base in this section at least appear to be the clays.  Once …

The water level at the landslide dam at Attabad in Pakistan continues to rise (see the data on my Hunza landslide monitoring site), with the reported freeboard being less than 30 metres.  However, I have to report a very much more worrying development.  Dr Michele Comi and Dr Chiara Calligaris from Ev-K2-CNR are just returning from a visit to the site, and have sent me the picture below (reproduced with …

Within the mainstream media the Attabad landslide story has been on slow burn for a while now, with a bit of interest last week. However, Reuters have run a story on this today that should now see it gaining a higher profile over the next few days: Reuters Story (Key parts only):Authorities in northern Pakistan are struggling to prevent the bursting of a natural dam formed by a landslide that …

Late last week the landslide at Attabad started to develop some seepage. Over the last few days this has gradually increased in rate and is now measured at about 9.4 cubic feet per second (0.25 cubic metres per second). The Pamir Times has some images of the seepage: Given this volume of water it is likely that this is flow through the dam, although at the moment this remains unconfirmed. …

Construction of the spillway at Attabad in northern Pakistan continues, but there is little doubt that the construction workers at the site, and indeed those walking over the dam to access the boat service, face considerable risks from rockfalls from the original landslide scar. On 4th March such a rockfall occurred, striking two people on the upslope face of the landslide deposit. One, an army bulldozer driver, was injured whilst …

I apologise for the lack of posts of late. I am currently in Pakistan to visit the Attabad landslide, courtesy of FOCUS Pakistan. I will post on that soon, and of course there has been a great deal happening in the landslide world whilst I have been in the field. Anyway, this is the latest in my series on landslides in art. The previous parts can be found here:Part 1Part …

The National Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan is posting daily updates on the situation with the Attabad landslide on its website here. The reports appear with a lag of about 4 days, but nonetheless provide a helpful insight into the rate of progress. As of 6th Feb a total of 26,000 cubic metres of debris had been moved to create the spillway. Meanwhile the lake level is increasing at 60 …

Image from Pamir Times. The Pakistan Red Crescent have published the latest update on the state of the Attabad landslide in northern Pakistan. The key information is that the water level in the barrier lake is rising at 0.4 feet (about 12 cm) per hour (NB note correction). The level is reportedly 44 feet (13.4 metres) from the crest of the dam. The lake is about to inundate the settlement …

As we are now at the end of the “noughties” I thought that it would be interesting to compile a list of the ten most important “natural” (i.e. geophysical and hydro-meteorological) disasters of the decade. This is not intended to be a list of the ten most damaging or with the highest number of fatalities, but more to reflect events that changed the way that we think or act about …