The basic physics of landslides is the same everywhere

Whilst landslides come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the fundamental physics that controls material deformation on slopes is the same everywhere. I was reminded of this truism this week when Andrew Giles pointed out a large rockslide that occurred a few days ago, blocking Interstate 40 at Pigeon Gorge in North Carolina, USA. The Citizen-times.com website has a nice report and images of the slide:



The images reminded me very strongly of the 2003 Bukit Lanjan landslide, thousands of kilometres away in Malaysia (image from CKC Malaysia):

Malaysian Slope Safety Web Site

CKC, the slope engineering division of the Malaysian Public Works Department, have put together a website to provide advice to the public on slope safety:

http://slopes.jkr.gov.my/Slopesafety/default.html


Using a very simple structure, it provides a mass of very straightforward advice on what landslides are, why they happen, how to determine whether a slope problem is developing, and what to do in the event of a landslide. Whilst it clearly has a very strong Malaysian focus, it contains a wealth of information that is pertinent to other places.

Malaysia landslide - residents action group blog

I have only briefly touched upon the 6th December 2008 landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa in Kuala Lumpur, which has been a very high profile event in Malaysia. I don't intend to comment on any aspect of the landslide - GiB has covered it in his own style in the oddly-named Landslide under Microscope blog - see here, here and here. Interestingly though a new Blog has appeared called Save Bukit Antarabangsa, which is a "voice of residents and owners" - essentially an online newspaper for a residents action group.

There is also quite an interesting blog by a resident, Yen Hee, who is working to help the community to recover. The blog is here.

Article in the New Strait Times Malaysia

Shield your eyes from the photograph though...

People pressure on land has a telling effect

Sichuan - what does a landslide look like in reality?

Understanding what a landslide is actually like is rather difficult when you can only see the deposit and the scar. Now, all landslides are of course different, but in the case of Sichuan we are dealing with some of the most rapid and dangerous ones. So, I thought it would be constructive to post the following Youtube video, which was taken in Malaysia in 1993. Click on it to view - I promise you won't be disappointed. It remains the very best landslide video that I have ever seen, despite the fairly poor resolution.