You are browsing the archive for Tag: landslide dam - Page 17 - The Landslide Blog.
7 August 2009
Valley blocking landslide in China
The web site China.org.cn is reporting a major valley blocking landslide on the Dadu River in Sichuan: “A massive landslide in southwest China’s Sichuan Province has killed at least one person and injured 19 others, local officials said Friday morning. The landslide, which occurred at around 11:30 p.m. Thursday in Shunhe Township of Hanyuan County, also blocked a major local river, leaving six local residents stranded, said officials from the …
11 December 2008
The Vaiont (Vajont) landslide of 1963
For some 12 or so years I have maintained a set of notes on the amazing Vajont (sometimes spelt Vaiont) landslide of N. Italy. This is the most deadly landslide in Europe in recorded history. For a while I have been meaning to move the notes over to here – today I have finally got around to it, so here they are: THE VAJONT LANDSLIDEIntroductionThe Vajont reservoir disaster is a …
6 November 2008
Floods in France
France is currently suffering some terrible flooding that is also resulting in a serious threat of mudslides to the extent that some motorways (freeways) have had to be closed. Although not really landslides, I felt I just had to show the following pictures of the Grangent reservoir on the Loire valley, which has trapped an extraordinary amount of debris washed down the river as a result of the rainfall: Debris …
22 October 2008
Landslide crisis in Honduras
Although it has not received any substantial coverage in the west, it appears that there is a serious landslide crisis developing in Honduras. Over the last few days Honduras has experienced intense rainfall as a consequence of a stalled tropical depression. A state of emergency has been declared. The most serious problem appears to lie in Corquin in Copan, in the very west of Honduras. Here, both La Prensa and …
9 October 2008
Young River Landslide, New Zealand
Interesting news from New Zealand, where for the last few months there has been some concern about a landslide dam on South Island. The landslide itself occurred in a fairly remote area of the Southern Alps at 4:40 am on 29th August 2007. The landslide, which is well-described in a GNS Science poster here (there are some great images and some good data on that poster), blocked the river valley …
29 September 2008
Grave concerns in the earthquake affected area in Sichuan
Reliefweb is this morning carrying a story highlighting grave concerns about the situation in Sichuan in view of recent weather. The article is here. This article appears to have originated from the Jinde charity, who are active in the earthquake affected areas. In a nutshell they are reporting that: Sichuan Province is suffering the most severe rainstorms for a century. They report that since 21st September the city of Jiangyou …
26 September 2008
The Yigong Rock Avalanche, Tibet
Occasionally I like to take a look back at a significant landslide. Today I thought I’d write about the amazing Yigong rock avalanche in Tibet. The location of the landslide is shown on Figure 1: it’s location is 30°14′ N, 94°59′ E, located high on the Tibetan Plateau. Figure 1: Google Earth image showing the location of the Yigong landslide. Click on the image for a better view. The landslide …
24 September 2008
More trouble at Tangjiashan
Tangjiashan was the most serious of the “quake lakes” (valley-blocking landslides) generated by the Wenchuan earthquake. Back in June I followed the remarkable exercise undertaken by the Chinese authorities to mitigate the problem by draining the lake. Once the lake was drained the concern was what would happen in the wet season. Today, China.org.cn is reporting that new problems have developed: Two people were dead and 30 were missing amid …
16 June 2008
Landslides from the 14th June 2008 “Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake” in Japan
At 08:43:46 local time on Saturday 14th June 2008 a magnitude Mw=6.8 (USGS initial estimate) struck eastern Honshu in Japan. Although this earthquake (now being called the Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake) was not particularly large, it occurred at a shallow depth (10 km) below an area that is quite mountainous. This is an areas that is very landslide prone anyway, being subject to active tectonic processes and frequent typhoon rainfall events. …
Landslides from the 14th June 2008 "Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake" in Japan
At 08:43:46 local time on Saturday 14th June 2008 a magnitude Mw=6.8 (USGS initial estimate) struck eastern Honshu in Japan. Although this earthquake (now being called the Iwate-Miyagi Inland Earthquake) was not particularly large, it occurred at a shallow depth (10 km) below an area that is quite mountainous. This is an areas that is very landslide prone anyway, being subject to active tectonic processes and frequent typhoon rainfall events. …

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.
Recent Comments