{"id":2456,"date":"2018-12-03T14:17:46","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T08:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tibetnature.lhasocialwork.com\/en\/?p=2456"},"modified":"2018-12-20T14:55:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T09:25:37","slug":"landslides-and-floods-in-tibet-what-is-happening-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/landslides-and-floods-in-tibet-what-is-happening-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"LANDSLIDES AND FLOODS IN TIBET: WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHY??"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Nick Hawkins<\/p>\n

The face of a mountainside near Bolo Township, by Chambo City inJomda County, Eastern Tibet collapsed into the Drichu River (the Yangste in Chinese)on October 11, blocking the river and forming a huge barrier lake 5km long, 200 meters wide and70 meters deep. Two villages were submerged but – had the barrier-dam burst – the consequences could have been very much worse.13,600 people were reported to have been evacuated from the immediate area, together with a further 11,000 from neighboring Sichuan Province.\u00a0 On October 13the Chinese Government\u2019s Ministry of Emergency Management warned that another landslide could be imminent, with a 300 meter-long crack appearing on the same mountain. Water was discharged from the lake, flooding the Po township, the Po monastery and settlements downstream but avoiding any deaths or injuries. By October 14water levels had returned to normal.\"\"<\/a> A second landslide occurred in the vicinity of Bolo township on November 3, again blocking the Drichu River and forming a barrier lake, inundating two villages and a hydro-electric power station. \u00a0Chinese media reported that 6,000 people were evacuated within 24 hours. The two landslides and subsequent flooding destroyed 100 houses, damaged 1,000 more and, at that stage, 8,300 people had been relocated \u2013 many more were to follow.<\/p>\n

However, waters in the second barrier lake continued to rise \u2013 increasing to a depth of 55 meters and an estimated volume of 470 million cubic meters by\u00a0November 11 \u2013 with fears of potentially catastrophic flooding should it burst.\u00a0 Chinese state news media Xinhua reported that 67,500 people were evacuated by November 13 when a man-made channel was made on the Drichuin order to discharge the excess water. There were no reported casualties, however the 270 meter-long, \u201cZhubalong Jinsha River Bridge\u201d downstream in Karze was washed away, 8,000 houses were damaged and 1,800 hectares of farmland were inundated in the resulting flood waters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A week after the first incident on the Drichu River, on October 17, a separate landslide was reported on the Yarlung Tsangpo headwater of the Brahmaputra River near Menling County. Waters in the resulting barrier lake rose 40 meters and 6,000people were evacuated as a precaution. The Chinese authorities warned regions downstream \u2013 including the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh \u2013 of the danger of serious flash floods.<\/p>\n

These landslides have had a ruinous impact on the environment but at least \u2013 as so far reported \u2013 there have been no fatalities. The welfare of the people in the area \u2013 and the protection of property, as far as possible \u2013 were the initial priority. TempaGyaltsenZamlha,<\/strong> a Research Fellow from the Tibetan Policy Institute of the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamshala, is an authority on environmental issues in Tibet. He has been highly critical of the Chinese authorities\u2019response to these disasters, arguing that a more urgent and better-resourced reaction could have provided a deeper understanding of the problem and brought quicker relief to the tens of thousands of people affected.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>These events raise a number of serious questions that remain unanswered:<\/p>\n