We have looked at a number of landslides in the past, including the Bingham Canyon mine landslide, a landslide near Oso, Washington and a whole set of landslides in Brazil.
On 29th October 2014, there was a landslide in the district of Badulla, Sri Lanka, which hit the village of Koslanda. A site called Groundviews has managed to obtain satellite imagery from Digital Globe showing the landslide and they also include a KML so that you can view it in Google Earth. Find the story and KML here.
The Koslanda landslide – imagery from Digital Globe
About Timothy Whitehead
Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Historical imagery in GE also shows the longer term impact of landslides. There are many places on the south and east coasts of England where the land with vulnerable geology is relentlessly slipping into the sea. A good example is the two miles of cliffs to the west of St Catherine’s Point at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight where a comparison of the 1945 imagery, and even the 1999 imagery, with current imagery, shows a series of rock falls and mudslides eroding coastal features and settlement, including the Blackgang ‘theme park’ (see Panoramio photos of abandoned ‘cowboy town’), fortunately so far without loss of life.