The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides.
At 5:51 am local time on 22 January 2023, a significant landslide occurred in Liangshui Village in Zhenxiong County, Yunnan Province of China. It is reported that 47 people from 18 households were buried in the landslide. At the time of writing, rescue operations were underway. Two people are known to have died, but there are no reports of successful rescues to date.
A local resident has taken this photograph of the site of the landslide:-
There is also some good drone footage of the landslide, and its impact on the village:-
There is no word on the trigger of this event. The area appears to be mantled in recent snow, so it is unlikely to have been rainfall. The image above shows that the landslide is a rock slope failure, with a vertical rear release surface that is clearly an existing joint, and a steeply inclined basal shear surface that may also be an pre-existing discontinuity. The main failure appears to have entrained debris from the lower part of the slope.
There is an intriguing vertical scarp in the landslide scar at the foot of the main rock slope (about half way down the image) that would be worth investigating.
Clearly, the conditions at the site are very challenging, with the temperature unlikely to have risen above freezing point today. This will reduce the likelihood of survivors, sadly.