Data

Other Countries


Sediment-related Disasters in the world : 2012

2012/1/1 - 2012/12/31

Date of occurrence Country Type Summary
Jan. 5 Philippines Collapse At around 3 AM on Jan. 5, a landslide occurred at a gold mine in Pantukan, Mindanao Island, in the southern Philippines. A village that stretched from the hillside slope to the valley was buried in a massive amount of debris, leaving 42 people dead, 42 missing, and 16 injured. This site was an open-pit gold mine where the mountain slope had been cut open and illegal mining had also been going on. The ground was loosened due to days of continuous rainfall and a M2.8 earthquake hit the area in the early hours of Jan. 5, which possibly led to the landslide. In April of last year, a similar landslide occurred at a nearby site, killing 14 people. The government had warned the area's residents to move to a safe place, but they refused to leave.
Jan. 10 Brazil Collapse In Jamapara in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, a slope behind a village collapsed due to showers, burying 9 houses and killing 19 people. Continuous rainfall had destroyed an upstream dam, causing floods and making it impossible to move between villages.
Jan. 24 Papua New Guinea Landslide In the early morning of Jan. 24, a landslide with a length of 1 km and width of a few hundred meters occurred in Komo in the mountains of Southern Highlands province, Midwestern Papua New Guinea. This landslide caused a massive amount of debris to flow into two nearby villages, killing 60 people. The cause of the landslide is not clear. However, the local people suspect that it may have had something to do with the nearby natural gas development.
Mar. 4 Afghanistan Snow avalanche On March 4, a snow avalanche struck Dispay village, Badakhshan in northeast Afghanistan, which was experiencing its coldest winter in 15 years, killing at least 145 people. The United Nations rescue team tried to reach the site, which is accessible from Tajikistan only by land. However, snow blocked the road to the village. A helicopter could not be used as it could have triggered a new snow avalanche.
Apr. 7 Pakistan Snow avalanche In the early morning of April 7, a massive snow avalanche occurred in Gayari near the Siachen Glacier in the Kashmir region near the border with India, trapping and killing 135 people consisting of 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians who had been stationed at the camp base. Although detailed images have not been released, the site is about 3,775 m above sea level and contains mostly grayish white debris (moraines?), suggesting a possible collapse of the glacier slope.
May 5 Nepal Collapse, mudflow At 9:09 AM on May 5, a massive rockslide occurred on the western slope of Annapurna IV in the Himalayas. A debris avalanche cut through a glacier and old lake sediments, reached the canyon, and flowed into the Seti Khola River as mudflow. This mudflow, which occurred with no prior warning such as rainfall, left 34 people dead and 36 missing in Kharapani of Sardikhola VDC and Jomo of Machhapuchhre village (both are in the Kaski district in the mid-western region of Nepal). Kharapani is a hot spring resort town located about 40 km north of Pokhala. May 5 was a holiday, and many tourists and pilgrims including foreigners were visiting the area. These visitors, restaurant and other employees, and gravel extraction operators fell victim.
June 11 Afghanistan Landslide In the Hindu Kush region 170 km north of the capital Kabul, a remote village was buried in an earthquake-induced landslide. At 9:32 AM on June 11, a M5.4 earthquake occurred with a seismic center about 160 km southwest of Faizabad and at a depth of about 15 km. This was followed by a M5.7 quake 25 minutes later. These quakes buried and killed 73 residents in Mullah Jan village, Burka district, Baghlan province, in the northeast region. Some say that the landslide swept away the entire village.
June 25 Uganda Landslide Around 2 PM on June 25, a massive landslide occurred at the foot of Mt. Elgon, Bududa district, eastern Uganda, due to heavy rain. The landslide trapped and killed at least 18 people and injured 9. The area where the landslide occurred is a land where coffee is grown and consists of three villages with about 300 residents. The same district suffered another landslide in March 2010, which killed over 80 people.
June 26 Bangladesh Collapse, mudslide From the evening of June 26 to the early hours of June 27, after three days of continuous heavy rainfall, collapses occurred frequently in southern Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, and northeast Sylhet of Bangladesh, which had just entered a rainy season. Some of them turned into mudslides, striking villages, and killing 59 and 38 people in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar areas, respectively, and leaving over 100 people missing.
June 27 China Mudslide From the evening of June 27 to the early hours of June 28, a mudslide occurred in Ningnan, Liangshan, Sichuan, due to heavy rain. As a result, the workers' housing at the Baihetan hydroelectric power plant which was under construction at an upstream branch of the Yangtze River fell victim, leaving 30 workers dead and 20 missing.
July 6 Russia Mudslide Late on the night of July 6, heavy rain caused many rivers to flood near the southwestern city of Krasnodar, triggering many mudslides. As a result, 172 people died, 4,000 were injured, and 5,500 houses were completely destroyed. The Russian Red Cross provided relief aid.
July 11-14 Japan Mudslide, collapse Continuous torrential rain hit northern Kyushu between July 11 and 14, causing 93 mudslides, 68 collapses and other disasters in the Aso area of Kumamoto Prefecture. In Aso City, 22 people died.
July 12 Indonesia Landslide Heavy monsoon rains hit Ambon Island in western Maluku. A mudslide occurred in Mamura village, killing 8 people. A massive landslide occurred on the hillside in the midstream section of the Waiera River in Negeri Lima village, blocking the river and creating a natural dam with a height of 200 m from the original river bed and a profile length of 1 km. The dam body did not collapse, and there were no cases of flooding or casualties. However, 1,800 households and 4,500 residents from the village at the mouth of the downstream of the natural dam were exposed to the risk of the dam collapsing due to floods. Emergency measures were carried out mainly by the government's public works ministry.
July 21-22 China Collapse, mudslide Starting on July 20, heavy rainfall hit a wide region from northeast to northwest of China. There were many floods in the lowland and collapses and mudslides in the mountain areas, leaving over 150 people dead or missing. The capital city of Beijing had continuous precipitation of 200 mm (record rainfall since 1951), and 37 people died due to flooding or building collapses. Some areas in the suburbs saw 460 mm of rain. Rain-triggered damage also occurred in places such as northeastern Heilongjiang, western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, inland Sichuan and Hebei.
Aug. 13 Congo Landslide A landslide occurred at a gold mine in Pangoyi in the northeastern region of Congo, trapping 60 miners. In Congo, illegal open-air mining is widespread. It is said that some miners are forced to work by a terrorist group or the military. The soil that slid reached nearly 100 m in thickness.
Sep. 13 Pakistan Mudslide Rainfall continued for the last two weeks of the rainy season mainly in the northern half of Sindh in southern Pakistan. This caused frequent flooding, collapses, and mudslides, killing at least 136 people and injuring 182.
Oct. 1 Nepal Landslide Due to continuous heavy rain that had started on the previous day, a landslide occurred in the Harkate-Hanspokhari road section of Mechi Highway in Kolbung, Chindepani, southeastern Ilam. Two passing vans and one truck were caught in the slide and fell into the nearby river, resulting in 6 deaths and 8 missing.
Oct. 4 China Landslide In Longhai township, Yiliang, Yunnan, rain had continued to fall since the end of September and reached a cumulative precipitation of 300 mm. A landslide occurred on a steep 50 - 60 degree slope, swallowed the Youfangtai elementary school building and 3 farm houses at the foot, and killed 18 students and 1 resident, a death toll of 19. The same county was hit by a M5.7 earthquake on September 7, which killed over 80 people. Although it was in the middle of a long holiday season in China, the students were taking supplementary classes in a borrowed building as a result of the earthquake.
Oct. 6 Columbia Mudslide A mudslide occurred in the mountain stream of La Chorrera, Villa del Prado, in the suburbs of Isnos city, Huila, southwest Colombia, which had entered a rainy season, leaving 10 people dead and 5 missing.
Oct. 18 Peru Landslide Weeks of intermittent rainfall in El Polvenir village, San Martin, in the north-central region caused a landslide and swallowed houses at the end of the village, leaving 11 people dead and 11 missing. The surrounding area is a hilly jungle, where most residents are engaged in cultivating coffee beans.
Nov. 8 Indonesia Mudslide In Desa Batanguru Timur village, east Sumarorong, Mamasa, Sulawesi Barat, a collapse caused a mudslide, leaving 13 people dead and 4 missing.
Nov. 30 Pakistan Collapse, snow avalanche In Kel village, Neelum, in snowy northern Azad Kashimir, a collapse and snow avalanche occurred twice, killing 21 people. With the surrounding precipitous topography, the roads are often blocked due to landslides in summer and snow avalanches in winter. Initially, 3 soldiers fell victim to a landslide in the morning. Then 8 soldiers and 10 workers who went to rescue them encountered the second disaster of landslide and snow avalanche. In the surrounding Siachen Glacier, 140 Pakistani soldiers were killed by a snow avalanche in April and 7 Indian soldiers died on Dec. 16.
Dec. 4 Philippines Mudslide, landslide Typhoon Bopha passed southern Mindanao islands with a maximum wind velocity of 49 m, causing many collapses and mudslides everywhere due to heavy rains. The total casualties in all islands combined were 1,901 people dead/missing and 2,666 people injured. Some 220,000 households and 970,000 people were evacuated. A total of 710,000 households and 6,240,000 people were affected. A massive mudslide occurred particularly in the southeastern Davao Region. In Balangay Andap village, New Bataan municipality, Compostela Valley province, the entire village was swept away by a mudslide with a width of about 1 km and length of 8 km, leaving 612 people dead and 468 people missing, for a total of 1,080 people falling victim. In Baganga City, east Davao Oriental, a mudslide left 395 people dead and 55 people missing, for a total death count of 450 people.
Dec. 29 Kenya Landslide At around 3 AM on Dec. 29, landslides occurred frequently in multiple areas in Marakwet and Keiyo in western Rift Valley Province, due to continuous heavy rainfall, killing 12 people.