At left, the words “The Landslide Blog” appear in white over a tan background that gradually becomes transparent to the right, revealing a sheer cliff face with rubble below it.

Remediating the Browney Curve landslide in County Durham

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. Rail Advent has a very nice article that describes the now completed repair of the Browney Curve landslide on the East Coast Mainline railway line in England. This is a site that is dear to my heart as, for 14 years, I drove across the landslide on my way to work. There is a Google Earth image from 2020, taken from a low sun angle, that beautifully illustrates the issues at this site:- The East Coast Mainline…

The 8 May 2022 Baiyan rock avalanche in Guizhou, China

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 May 2022, the catastrophic Baiyan rock avalanche occurred in Zhijin County, which is located in Guizhou Province, China. The digital lat/long is [26.63771, 105.69200]. I described this event at the time (on the old AGU blogsite). It destroyed 53 houses, killing three people. Intriguingly, many of the reports of this event seem to have been removed, such as the 163.com news item and the Youtube video. This is the image of the failure that I posted…

The 27 August 2024 post-fire debris flows in San Felice a Cancello, Italy

Guest post by Giuseppe Esposito and Stefano Gariano The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. In a recent article published in the journal Landslides, Esposito and Gariano (2025) describe the first post-fire debris flow event with fatal consequences recorded in Italy. On 27 August 2024, a large part of the Campania region in southern Italy was affected by intense rainfall associated with local storm cells forced by orography. Three watersheds affected by wildfires some weeks before responded to the rainfall with intense runoff and…

The 12 February 2021 Chunchi landslide in Ecuador

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. As landslides in Ecuador are currently in the news, it is interesting to reflect on perhaps the largest failure there in recent years. On 12 February 2021, the massive Chunchi landslide occurred…

A large landslide near to Chanazana in Nabón, Ecuador

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. I highlighted yesterday that Ecuador is being very significantly affected by landslides triggered by high levels of rainfall at the moment. A good example occurred on 30 March 2025 close to Chanazana…

Fatal landslides in March 2025

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. In March 2025, I recorded 37 fatal landslides globally (excluding those triggered by earthquakes), costing 90 lives. The 2004-2016 average number of fatal landslides in March reported by Froude and Petley (2018)…

The July 2024 landslide cluster in Zixing County, Hunan Province, China

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides. Back in February I highlighted a Sixth Tone article about the extraordinary landslide cluster that was triggered by Typhoon Gaemi in Hunan Province in China between 26 and 28 July 2024. A…

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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.