This article notes that the combination of shallow water table and crummy soils make it difficult to rebuild safely in the Christchurch, New Zealand business district. Another interesting item mentioned in the article is that the report they are citing indicates that the high variability in liquefaction damage throughout the business district appears to correlate with the paleo channels beneath the city, where the loose, silty alluvial deposits near the old channels were the most susceptible to liquefaction, but the gravelly soils farther away were not. [Source: TVNZ. Image: TVNZ]
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Sichuan Earthquake Update
[Updated May 30, 2008] I forgot to publish this post to the front page, whoops! The two links still have excellent information. In particular, Dave’s Landslide Blog has coverage of the many landslide lakes and the efforts to breach some of them. [/Update]
The latest numbers according to AFP, Worldwide News Agency, is 71,000 dead, missing or buried and over 5 million homeless. There were many victims that were buried by landslides and rockfall. In the past few days 200 rescue workers have been buried by mudslides.
For more coverage on landslides related to the earthquake, I recommend Dave’s Landslide Blog. Geology.com also has very comprehensive coverage as well. (AFP Photo)