Tuesday 8 August 2017

Landslide kills 23 in Sichuan Province, China.

Twenty three people have died and another five have been injured following a landslide in Sichuan Province, China, on Tuesday 8 August 2017. The event happened in the village of Gengdi in Puge County, at about 6.00 am local time, destroying two houses. The incident came after several days of heavy rain in the area. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.

Rescue workers searching for survivors following a landslide in Gengdi in Sichuan Province on 8 August 2017. Xinhua.

The climate of Sichuan Province is heavily influenced by the Asian Summer Monsoon, with heavy rainfall common in the summer. Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate. This situation is particularly intense in South Asia, due to the presence of the Himalayas. High mountain ranges tend to force winds hitting them upwards, which amplifies the South Asian Summer Monsoon, with higher winds leading to more upward air movement, thus drawing in further air from the sea. 


Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

See also...

http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/sichuan-landslide-feared-to-have-killed.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/five-dead-after-magnitude-63-earthquake.html
http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/magnitude-50-earthquake-in-northern.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/magnitude-47-earthquake-in-sichuan.html
http://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/sixty-meter-sinkhole-destroys-buildings.htmlhttp://sciencythoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/magnitude-47-earthquake-in-southern.html
Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.