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The causes of the 8 January 2022 fatal rock topple at Furnas Reservoir in Brazil

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. On 8 January 2022, a large rock topple occurred on the banks of the Furnas Reservoir in Brazil. This event, which I wrote about at the time, was captured on a series of videos taken by people on boats on the reservoir, such as this one:- The topple killed 10 people and injured a further 32 individuals. A new paper in the journal Landslides (Sun et al. 2024) provides a very detailed and insightful review of this…

Reflections on the 24 May 2024 Kaokalam landslide in Papua New Guinea

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. A great deal has been written about the 24 May 2024 Kaokalam landslide in Papua New Guinea, although there remains considerable uncertainty too. For example, estimates of the loss of life continue to vary wildly, although the higher numbers (2,000 people) now look unlikely. The central estimate seems to be 670 people, but this still feels high to me. For those who have not seen it, Dan Shugar posted a series of tweets considering the sequence of…

The 6-8 June 2024 landslide at Teton Pass in Wyoming, USA

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. Between 6 and 8 June 2024, a landslide destroyed a section of State Highway 22 along the Teton Pass in Wyoming. No lives were lost in this major landslide, although a motorcyclist may have been injured in a crash associated with road damage, and the road has now been completely destroyed. The Wyoming Department of Transport has been admirably transparent about this landslide, with an excellent set of resources and images, and a timeline of the sequence…

Global fatal landslides in 2024 – the situation at the end of May

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. I thought it would be useful to provide an update on the pattern of fatal landslides in 2024 to the end of May. Clearly, in the aftermath of the terrible 24 May…

Detecting landslides using seismic data in Switzerland

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. There has been a very interesting development in the detection of landslides using seismic data. The Swiss Seismological Service (SED), which has a very high quality network that monitors seismic events across…

The 24 May 2024 landslide at Kaokalam in Enga province, Papua New Guinea

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. At about 3 am on 24 May 2024, a large landslide occurred at Kaokalam, in the Muritaka area of Enga province in Papua New Guinea. The exact location of this event is…

The destruction of the Bronze Age settlement of Lajia in China

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. Yesterday, I posted about a new paper (Shi et al. 2024) that describes the liquefaction landslide damage caused to villages in Gansu Province, triggered by the  18 December 2023 Ms=6.2 Jishishan earthquake. The paper is…

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About Dave

Dave Petley is pictured from midchest up, with a building with tall paned windows in the background.

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.

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Ideas and opinions expressed on this blog do not represent the views of AGU, Eos, or any of their affiliates. They are solely the opinion of the author.