Landslide in Chile

Landslide
Southwest China, Yiliang County References: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/world/asia/china-landslide-school/index.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/10/05/china-landslide.html

The southwest part of China is surrounded by hills and mountains. The area is also surrounded by many plate boundaries so it is a common place for many earthquakes and landslides to occur. The area is often in long periods of droughts followed by heavy showers.
The area is covered with basin folds and thrust faults. There are also a lot of sedimentary rocks in the area. On August 21, 2012 A landslide occurred in the Yunnan Province in south west China. The Landslide Killed 19 people 18 of them were children who were attending school when the landslide occurred. The landslide also wiped out two houses in its path of destruction. The landslide blocked a river which posed a risk of flooding so 800 people were evacuated from the area as a precaution. The landslide occurred after several days of heavy showers hit the area. Prior to the rain the area was suffering from a drought for the past nine month. After a long period of no water the soil will loosen up and no longer be sticky and intact with the soil around it. So when heavy rain happens the soil is loose and the water flows away on the surface causing a landslide to occur. The area is also prone to a lot of earthquakes, which can cause the soil to become even looser. Some other factors that can cause mud slides are construction of houses and roads which helps cause instability in the soil. Some things that could have been done to lessen the damage from the mudslide is there could have been better human monitoring of the area since there were a lot of factors in place that could have potentially lead to a landslide it should have been better monitored and areas of high risk should have been closed so no one would be in harm’s way. Also bolts could have been placed in the soil around areas with people

References: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/world/asia/china-landslide-school/index.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/10/05/china-landslide.html The southwest part of China is surrounded by hills and mountains. The area is also surrounded by many plate boundaries so it is a common place for many earthquakes and landslides to occur. The area is often in long periods of droughts followed by heavy showers. The area is covered with basin folds and thrust faults. There are also a lot of sedimentary rocks in the area. On August 21, 2012 A landslide occurred in the Yunnan Province in south west China. The Landslide Killed 19 people 18 of them were children who were attending school when the landslide occurred. The landslide also wiped out two houses in its path of destruction. The landslide blocked a river which posed a risk of flooding so 800 people were evacuated from the area as a precaution. The landslide occurred after several days of heavy showers hit the area. Prior to the rain the area was suffering from a drought for the past nine month. After a long period of no water the soil will loosen up and no longer be sticky and intact with the soil around it. So when heavy rain happens the soil is loose and the water flows away on the surface causing a landslide to occur. The area is also prone to a lot of earthquakes, which can cause the soil to become even looser. Some other factors that can cause mud slides are construction of houses and roads which helps cause instability in the soil. Some things that could have been done to lessen the damage from the mudslide is there could have been better human monitoring of the area since there were a lot of factors in place that could have potentially lead to a landslide it should have been better monitored and areas of high risk should have been closed so no one would be in harm’s way. Also bolts could have been placed in the soil around areas with people surrounding it to make the soil stronger and more intact. Also going around areas which look to be high risk to landslides, and intentionally setting off landslides that might cause future risks. Making people in landslide prone areas aware of potential risks, and warnings signs to look for is another way to help lessen the damage from the landslide. Landslides are very dangerous and often times take many people’s lives, even though it is hard to predict when they might take place there are a lot of precautions that can be taken to help minimize the damage they cause.