The catastrophic landside in Maoxian County, Sichuan, SW China, on June 24, 2017

Abstract

This short communication gives a brief investigation of the catastrophic natural landslides in the Diexi town, Maoxian County, Sichuan province, SW China, which occurred on June 24, 2017. According to the preliminary statistics of Sichuan government, about 73 people lost contact, and 62 houses and more than 1600 m roads were buried. The collapse volume of landslide is approximately 8 million m3. The maximum drop is about 1600 m, and plane sliding distance is 2500–3000 m. Unfortunately, the secondary collapse incident occurred repeatedly on June 25 and 27, respectively. In this communication, the accident background, accident scene, and related emergency response are presented. In virtue of the in situ reconnaissance conducted by geological experts, the main reason for the collapse is the high-level and long-distance debris flow in earthquake fracture zone induced by continuous rainfall.