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Sediment-related Disasters in the world : 2014

Jan.1-Dec.31, 2014

Date of occurrence Country Type Summary
Jan 11 to 19 Philippines Slope Failure A low-pressure region staying over the ocean in the east of Mindanao developed into a tropical low-pressure system and caused rain over a wide area mainly from the Caraga Region XIII, in the east of Mindanao to the Davao Region XI. The rain caused slope failures in 16 sites, 6 floods, and 70 deaths, with 9 missing, 86 injured, 1,585 houses completely destroyed and 1,897 half-destroyed. There were 7 cases of slope failure in the Caraga region, 4 in the Davao region and 5 in others, resulting in 21 deaths.
Jan 18 Congo Landslide On the night of Sat, Jan 18, 2014, 2 landslides occurred in two areas near Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province, because of rain in the east area of Congo. Two houses were buried and 11 people killed. Both houses seem to have been built on soft ground.
Jan 23 Indonesia Landslide Due to torrential rain at the end of the rainy season, 5 landslides occurred in Menawan Village, Gebog Sub District, Kudus Province of Central Java, destroying 5 houses and killing 12 people.
Jan 28 Indonesia Slope Failure Due to torrential rain at the end of the rainy season, the cliff wall behind Ngrimbi Village, Jombang City of Eastern Java, collapsed and 5 out of 9 houses were destroyed. Although 5 people were rescued, 14 were killed.
Feb 1 Indonesia Pyroclastic flow Gunung Sinabung, located 60 km southwest of Medan, North Sumatra, erupted on Feb 1, 2014, and pyroclastic flow went down to Sukameriah, 3 km south of the crater, killing 17 and injuring 3. Gunung Sinabung erupted in 2010 for the first time in 400 years and that has been followed by frequent volcanic activities since September 2013. The government had restricted access within a 5 km radius from the crater, but relaxed the restriction as the volcano seemed more stable around mid-January and then the major eruption occurred.
Feb 10 Burundi Flood and
Debris flow		 Heavy rain lasted for 10 consecutive hours and caused floods and debris flows in five regions (Kamenge, Kinama, Buterere, Ngagara and Kanyosha) near the capital city Bujumbura. There were 69 deaths and 180 people were injured.
The floods washed away 2,200 houses and made about 20,000 people homeless.
Feb 22 Indonesia Slope Failure Jayapura, a town at the north shore of Papua Province near the border with Papua New Guinea, had rain for about four hours from 18:00 on Feb 22, 2014. This caused a flood and slope failure at three sites. A slope failure occurred in a collective residential area called Chrintin Yewen, and 11 people were buried under the gravel with no survivors.
Mar 22 USA Landslide A landslide occurred at 10:47 a.m. on March 22 on a mountainside of Oso, Snohomish County, WA, in the northwest USA. The site was along the North Fork Stillaguamish and 90 km north of Seattle. The landslide was about 600 m wide, 800 m long and the altitude difference was 180 m. It kept flowing beyond the river at the foot of the mountain, growing in size while washing away 49 houses and blocking the river. A total of 43 people were killed (as of July 22, 2014). The site experienced landslides in 1967 and 2006, making the river meander. The area that slid this time was larger than the past sliding sites. The disaster, which killed many people, was an incident that had not been experienced for many years in the USA mainland.
Apr 18 Nepal Avalanche An avalanche occurred around 6:45 a.m. at the climbing route of Mt. Everest in Solukhumbu District, Sagarmatha Zone, in the northeast of the country. It killed 16 Nepalese guides who were loading luggage. The site was near the first camp base on the route for South Col from the Everest base camp, at an altitude of 5,800 m.
May 2 Afghanistan Landslide A large-scale landslide occurred in Aab Bareek Village of Argo region of Badakhshan, northeast Afghanistan, at the end of the rainy season and killed about 350 people. The northern part of Afghanistan saw 200 mm/h of rain in a wide area from April 25, and part of the area is believed to have experienced precipitation reaching 300 mm/h. The landslide occurred around noon on June 2, two days after the heavy rain, destroying several hundreds of mud brick houses. The victims of the first slide were villagers who were in prayer at mosques on Friday and many of the rescuers were killed in the second slide.
Jun 4 Sri Lanka Landslide There was precipitation of 378 mm in 6 hours in Kalutara District, causing a large-scale landslide and killing 22. A flood occurred and it killed 5.
Jun 7 Afghanistan Slope Failure
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Debris Flow		 In the Guzargah-e-Nur region of Baghlan Province, a northern mountainous area, a narrow valley slope collapsed and destroyed several dozen houses. A series of flashfloods followed one after another. They killed 150 people and washed away several hundred houses. A few thousand people evacuated in an isolated area and the government sent relief supplies including food and medicines.
Jun 19 Ivory Coast Slope Failure Torrential rain continued to fall from June 17 in Attecoube in the capital Abidjan and it caused a slope failure and killed 12 people. It was a slum area and a designated disaster area. There were two more slope failures, killing 4 people in those two weeks.
Jun 20 Nepal Slope Failure Torrential rain at the beginning of the rainy season hit Pyuthan District of Rapti Zone and washed away houses along the river, killing 6 people. Gulmi District in Lumbini Province, located to the south of Pyuthan, had a slope failure in the mountain behind some houses and 9 people were killed.
Jul 4 Indonesia Slope Failure There was a slope failure around 11:00 p.m. on July 4, 2014 in Bpgobaida District, Paniai Region, Papua Province, eastern Indonesia, hitting a miners' lodge. It left 9 dead and 4 missing.
Jul 8-18 China Slope Failure Heavy rain fell in a wide area in China from July 3 to 18, 2014, along with lightning, and a landslide killed 117 while destroying several thousand houses, affecting 110,000 people. A total of 7 people in Guizhou Province in the south died due to the landslide and lightning. A debris flow occurred around 3:00 a.m. on July 9, 2014 in Shawa Village, Pihe, Fugong, Yunnan Province, southwest China. It hit houses at the mouth of the valley, killing 17 people. Another landslide happened on July 16, killing 9 people. There was a landslide in Anhua District, Hunan Province, killing 19 people.
Jul 21 China Debris flow Persistent rain caused a debris flow in southeast Yunan Province's Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture. The disaster stricken area was Luying Village of Manhai Ward in Man City, the capital, where 105 people from 21 households were affected and 13 houses collapsed. The incident left 16 dead, 6 missing and 7 injured. There were floods and a slope failure in the vicinity damaging 9,800 houses and affecting 75,000 people from 17,000 households.
Jul 30 India Landslide A landslide occurred in Malin Village, Pune Region, Maharashtra Province, western India, burying 50 houses, most of the houses in the village, and causing 209 deaths.
Aug 2 Nepal Slope Failure
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Natural Damming		 A large-scale slope failure occurred at 2:30 a.m. on August 2, 2014 along Sun Koshi River in Jure VDC, Sindhupalchok District, Bagmati Zone, 55 km east-northeast of Kathmandu, the capital, washing away 20 houses and killing 156. The site was along Arniko Highway and 15 km above the junction of the Sun Koshi River and Bothe Koshi River.
Natural damming appeared at a depth of 47 m in the Sun Koshi River due to the accumulated mud, and it caused inundation in an area that was 300 m wide at its maximum and 3 km toward the upper stream. This event flooded two power plants and one hydraulic power plant near the site. The Nepalese Army tried to blast the mud so that the water would flow away in the afternoon of August 2, but with little success. The natural dam broke partially on September 7, 37 days after the slope failure, and the water depth decreased by 18 m.
Aug 15 India Slope Failure A shower after midnight on August 15, 2014 caused slope failures in a few places in Pauri District, State of Utterakhand, killing 24 people. The state experienced another major natural disaster in June 2013. A road constructed along steep terrain is blocked every time heavy rain falls, making rescue and evacuation difficult.
Aug 20 Japan (Hiroshima) Debris flow Rain that started on August 19, 2014 got heavier on Aug 20, and the hourly precipitation reached 87 mm. Several mountainsides in Asakita Ward and Asaminami Ward, Hiroshima City, started to collapse, gathering water and mud which flowed into the houses located at the foot of the mountain. The damage included 74 deaths, 133 completely destroyed houses, 122 half-destroyed houses and 174 partially destroyed houses in the Midorii and Yagi regions and their vicinity.
Aug 27 China Landslide On a mountainside in Yinping Village, Daoping Ward, Fuquan City, Guizhou Province slope failured over an area of about 600 m, covering most of the village at the foot. 22 people were killed and 77 houses were destroyed.
Sep 7-9 India Landslide Due to the rain that kept falling for 5 consecutive days, there was a landslide early in the morning of September 7, 2014 in Pancheri region, Udhampur district, State of Jammu-Kashimir. It buried 16 houses under the mud and killed 32 people. There was another landslide on September 9 in Saddal Village, which left 40 houses under the mud, 38 dead and more than 100 missing. Many days of rain isolated numerous towns and villages in the mountains due to blocked roads and caused floods, described as being "like a tsunami," in the flat areas.
Sep 23 India Slope Failure Heavy rain at the end of the rainy season caused floods and slope failures in many areas in Assam Province, northeast India. Landslides in Meghalaya District killed 17 and those in Guwahati District killed 5.
Sep 27 Japan (Nagano) Volcanic Eruption Mt. Ontake, situated at the border of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, had a phreatic eruption at 11:52 a.m. without warning. It affected climbers who were near the summit, killing 57 with rocks that directly hit them and leaving 6 missing (as of October 23, 2014; search resumed in spring 2015).
Oct 4 Indonesia Landslide A landslide occurred in an illegal gold mine in Saga Tani Village, Bengkayang Regency, West Kalimantan Province in Kalimantan Island, killing 18. 
Oct 10 China Slope Failure A slope failure occurred at a highway construction site in Huan Yan, Ganquan Region, Yun'an District, Shaanxi Province, at around 9:10 p.m. on October 10, burying 8 lodges and killing 19. It was the construction site for a highway bridge with workers' lodges built on a flat area along the river channel under a slope.
Oct 14 Nepal Avalanche Due to a cyclone called Hudhud, there was a heavy blizzard in Annapurna, in the western region of Nepal, causing an avalanche in some areas. While about 400 were rescued, 43 climbers from various countries trekking on the course were killed.
Oct 18 Nicaragua Slope Failure Heavy rain that lasted a few days caused a slope failure in retaining walls and other collapses near Managua, the capital, and 22 deaths. In addition to several thousand evacuees, about 30,000 people were affected. Neighboring counties in the north such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were affected too.
Oct 29 Sri Lanka Slope Failure In a tea tree planation area in Koslanda, Haldummulla Region, Badulla District, Uva Province, 220 km east of Colombo, the capital, there was a slope failure on its slopes in the pouring rain around 7:30 a.m. It killed 13 and left 24 missing (search has finished). 66 of the 120 houses for the plantation workers were completely destroyed and 1,875 people from 521 households were affected.
Nov 10 Columbia Slope Failure
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Debris Flow		 Due to rain that fell in the second rainy season that started in early September (usually ends in mid-December), there were 88 cases of slope failure, 3 cases of debris flows, and 38 deaths. They made 18,000 people homeless in the area between northwest and central Colombia by November 10, 2014. The most affected states were: Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Choco, Cauca and Cundinamarca.
Nov 15 Haiti Flood and
Slope Failure		 At the end of the hurricane season, floods and slope failures occurred in the vicinity of Cap-Haitien, a northern coast town in Haiti, submerging 15,000 houses and killing 17 people.
Dec 12 Indonesia Slope Failure A slope that was 100 m high collapsed around 6:00 p.m. in the community of Jemblugan, Sampang Village, Karangkobar District, Banjarnegara Regency, Java Tengah, central Java. It caused a horrible disaster, washing away the community and leading to 95 deaths, 13 missing and 24 injured. In the area near Jemblugan, there were minor slope failures and road cracks were found around 5:00 p.m., an hour before the disaster. According to the Geological Agency of Indonesia, the Regency often has landslides and there was another disaster caused by a slope failure in nearby Cijeruk village with 120 deaths/missing on January 4, 2006.
Dec 26 Sri Lanka Slope Failure and
Debris Flow		 A low-pressure system approaching Rilpolla Village, Hali-Ela Region, Badulla District, Uva Province, southeastern part of the central highlands, which had experienced another disaster in October, bought heavy rain to the area. It caused a slope failure, which eventually became a debris flow, washing away houses along the road. The incident caused 12 deaths, with 2 missing, and 1 injured. Badulla Region, Badulla District, had a slope failure which killed 6. (According to the report of 1/6 Disaster Management Centre.)
Dec 30 Philippines Slope Failure and
Debris Flow		 Typhoon Jangmi, or Seniang, crossed over the Visayas region, central-south part of the Philippines, from December 28 to 30. In the area to the north of the typhoon's route, 5,000 households evacuated to 83 evacuation centers and about 540,000 people of 120,000 households were affected. In Cebu, a debris flow caused 15 deaths and 4 missing. In the islands of Leyte and Samar, slope failures in slopes buried houses and killed 10 and 20 people respectively.