Debris Flows and Landslides - River Dynamics and Integrated River Management - page 196

of Xintan on the sliding body disappeared. The sliding body induced huge waves, the first more than 90
m high and the second 50 m high. The waves destroyed 13 steel ships and 64 wooden boats. Ten people
on board were killed and 8 were missing (HLIG, 1985).
Xintan Town
(a) (b)
Fig. 4.7 The Xintan Landslide occurred in 1985 on the left side of the Yangtze River near the Three Gorges Dam:
(a) before sliding; (b) after sliding. (after SCST and MGMR, 1988)
Landslide is the major geological disaster in Hong Kong. Figure 4.8 shows the annual landslide
fatalities in Hong Kong from 1948-1996. In terms of landslides, 1972 was the most disastrous year with
150 landslide caused deaths.
Fig. 4.8 Annual landslide fatalities in Hong Kong in the period 1948-1996. Landslides in 1972 claimed 150 lives
and caused great economic loss (after Wang, 1999)
4.1.3.2 Disaster Chains
The great Wenchuan Earthquake (Ms 8.0) occurred on May 12, 2008 and killed about 100,000 people.
The earthquake caused numerous landslides and avalanches on streams. According to the China
Geological Survey, 1,701 landslides and 1,844 rock avalanches occurred triggered by the earthquake
(Cui, 2009). Another report gave much higher numbers of landslides and avalanches, with a total number