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9 September 2008
Updated: A flow slide disaster in China
UPDATED: New image of the site addedUPDATED: Google Earth image of location added. Update: This image from http://aboutxinjiang.com/ shows the site of the failure. This confirms both the magnitude of the event and the type. This has been a terrible week for landslide disasters. Sadly, news emerged yesterday of yet another, this time in Taoshi township, Linfen County in Shaanxi province. I think that I have managed to identify the …
31 August 2008
UPDATED 4th Sept: Magnitude 5.7 earthquake in China
The USGS is reporting today that there was a Mw=5.7 (Xinhua is reporting M=6.1) earthquake in China at 4:30 pm local time yesterday. News reports this morning suggest that 25 people have been killed and a further 100 injured. I wouldn’t normally post on an earthquake of this size as the likelihood of triggering extensive landslides is limited. However, in this case there may be an interesting landslide angle to …
6 July 2008
Reflections on the International Symposium on Landslides and Emgineered Slopes
As I sit in Terminal 5 at Heathrow, enduring an interminable wait for a flight to Newcastle, I have started to reflect upon the International Symposium on Landslides and Engineered Slopes, and upon the state of landslide science in general. First, the conference conveners should be congratulated for a well-organised meeting. The venue (the Shaanxi Guest House in Xian) was quite good, although I was quite glad that we chose …
30 June 2008
International Symposium of Landslides – Wenchuan (Sichuan) earthquake landslides
This week is the 10th International Symposium on Landslides and Engineered Slopes, which is a once every four years get together. This time round it is being held in Xi’an in China, which is particularly appropriate given the recent events a few hundred kilometres to the southwest. The organisers managed to timetable a session of two keynotes and six other presentations on landslides associated withe the earthquake. The session was …
10 June 2008
Tangjiashan – problem over
Xinhua is now reporting that the flood wave has passed through the city of Mianyang safely. This appears to mark the end of the crisis. I have to say many, many congratulations to the Chinese authorities and everyone involved for their handling of this event. To manage to mitigate this lake in this way is probably an unprecedented achievement.
Tangjiashan – let’s be a little careful here…
I note from comments below that now that the landslide dam at Tangjiashan has failed the disaster is considered to be over. Please let’s be a little careful here. It is true that the flood waves has now passed through the upper parts of the river. Below is the graph of the reported discharges as per the comments left on earlier postings: The water level is clearly dropping. However, the …
Tangjiashan – let's be a little careful here…
I note from comments below that now that the landslide dam at Tangjiashan has failed the disaster is considered to be over. Please let’s be a little careful here. It is true that the flood waves has now passed through the upper parts of the river. Below is the graph of the reported discharges as per the comments left on earlier postings: The water level is clearly dropping. However, the …
Tangjiashan – latest image
This is a new image released by Xinhua of the collapse at Tangjiashan. It is clear that the dam has now effectively failed: The rate of scour is clearly very fast and the lake level is still very high indeed (it has apparently dropped 10 m). CCTV has just reported that the smaller dams downstream have now been overtopped and washed away.
Updated: Tangjiashan is failing very rapidly
Latest graph on Tangjiashan flow rates: It is clear that the failure of the dam is now very rapid and is uncontrollable. It is essential that anyone in a vulnerable location downstream is evacuated immediately. It appears that the workers on the dam have been successfully pulled off the site by helicopter, which is a relief. Update: Correspondent Andy is now reporting that cracks have been observed on the dam, …
Tangjiashan flow rate graph
This is a quick, back of the envelope graph of the reported flow rate at Tangjiashan. The dramatic rise in flow rate is clear, but so far this is not catastrophic. The next data point is the key one – can anyone provide it?
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
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