Latest Landslide Locations

Pakistan

A landslide, which killed at least 20 people in the remote Himalayan region of Northern Pakistan on January 4, blocked the Hunza river creating a steadily rising lake.

The water level in the lake has risen to more than 100 meters (323 feet), and is still rising.

“About 1,700 people have been forced to flee their homes after flooding swept Ayeenabad and Shishkat villages in the district of Hunza, wiping out dozens of houses about 750 kilometers (467 miles) north of Islamabad.” AFP reported.

The looming disaster also threatens Gulmit, a tourist resort near the main Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan and China.

“We are expecting water from the 15 kilometer-long lake to reach the spillway by May 27 and then (overflowing) will begin,” local official Asif Bilal Lodhi told AFP.

The army engineers are working around the clock to build a spillway to avert a looming disaster, however, their work will take at least 15 more days to complete.

Hunza river landslide lake

ASTER on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image of the landslide lake on the Hunza River on May 2, 2010. Blue indicates water, red indicates vegetation, and shades of beige and gray indicate bare rock. The approximate extent of the lake on March 16, 2010, appears as a white outline. Image and caption: NASA E/O [edited for brevity.]

India

Two massive landslides triggered by torrential rains have blocked National Highway 44 at Sonapur in Meghalaya, India, and several other roads, causing major disruptions to road traffic to Tripura, Mizoram and southern Assam, according to several reports.

Canada

A giant sinkhole described as “four times larger than a football field”  swallowed a house killing 4 members of a family including two children.

The landslide occurred near in the outskirts of Saint-Jude, Quebec, near a tributary of the Yamaska River (50 kilometers outside of Montreal), damaging a two-lane road and prompting the evacuation of five other houses nearby.

Local geologists suggested that the landslide was a  “lateral spread,” described as sideways landslide.

Related Links:

• Flood Disaster Unfolding in Pakistan
• Landslide News April 28, 2010

• 2010 Disasters
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [May]]
• Landslides

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