{"id":28168,"date":"2018-07-12T08:05:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T08:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/?p=28168"},"modified":"2018-07-12T08:05:10","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T08:05:10","slug":"japan-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/2018\/07\/12\/japan-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Images of the disastrous landslides in Japan this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Images of the disastrous landslides in Japan this week<\/h4>\n

Over the last few days Japan has suffered from record levels of rainfall, triggering large numbers of landslides<\/a>.\u00a0 In total at least 200 people have been killed in flood and landslide events<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To give an idea of the scale of this event, Planet Labs have published a before an after image pair of just one part of the affected area<\/a>.\u00a0 This is the “after” image, showing the landslides around Yasuuracho Chuo, near to Hiroshima:-<\/p>\n

\"Japan\"

Planet Labs imagery<\/a> of the aftermath of the landslides at Yasuuracho Chuo, near to Hiroshima, in Japan.<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

The image above shows multiple shallow slides, many of which appear to have transitioned into high mobility channelised debris flows.\u00a0 These are highly dangerous.\u00a0 Japanese news agencies have been publishing images that illustrate the scale of these landslides.\u00a0 The image below, published in The Mainichi<\/a>, shows shallow slides at Uwajima in Ehime Prefecture.\u00a0 It may be no coincidence that the landslides have occurred in areas that have had heavy modification of their vegetation:<\/p>\n

\"Japan\"

Landslides at Uwajima in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Image via The Mainichi<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

Another image, also from The Mainichi<\/a>, shows the impact of channelised flows in structures:-<\/p>\n

\"Japan\"

The aftermath of a channelised debris flow at Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Image via The Mainichi<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the image below, published by Kyodo (via The Mainichi)<\/a> shows a shallow slide in a very steep, deeply weather slope in\u00a0Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan:-<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

\"Japan\"

A shallow slide on a deeply weathered slope at Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan. Image from Kyodo.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

The Japan Times<\/a> has this spectacular image of the failure of a slope above a highway.\u00a0 Note that this is an engineered slope; the displaced slope reinforcement can be seen in the landslide debris.\u00a0 As such this is a failure of design:-<\/p>\n

\"Japan.

The failure of an engineered slope on the Kyushu Expressway in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan. Image via the Japan Times<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

And the image below<\/a> shows the impact of two flow type landslides on a highway in Otoyo in Kochi Prefecture:-<\/p>\n

\"Japan\"

The impact of a landslide on a highway at Otoyo in Kochi Prefecture, Japan. Image via The Mainichi<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

At least 47 sections of expresswa<\/a>y have been damaged by the landslides.<\/p>\n

This is without doubt the most significant landslide event of 2018 to date.\u00a0 I’m sure more information will emerge in due course.\u00a0 The landslide research community in Japan is very large<\/a>, and they are assiduous in documenting large landslide events.\u00a0 Japan is of course no stranger to massive landslide events , caused by both exceptional rainfall<\/a> and earthquakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reference<\/h4>\n

Planet Team (2017). Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA.\u00a0https:\/\/api.planet.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last week exceptional rainfall has triggered thousands of landslides in Japan, with disastrous consequences. Images are starting to emerge showing the scale of the disaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":28173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[881,469,13647,21,361,959,898,521],"class_list":["post-28168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-east-asia","tag-featured","tag-imagery","tag-images","tag-japan","tag-landslide-report","tag-planet","tag-satellite-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}