Assessment on the 2014 Jure Landslide in Nepal – a disaster of extreme tragedy

Abstract

The landslides kill many people every year in Nepal and in the Himalayan region, which devastates society in the local area. A famous living memory of an example of landslide induced devastation was the landslide at Tinau river that took place in early September 1981 damming the river completely, which breached after few days causing huge flood downstream. The flood swept away concrete tower of the Tinau Hydropower Project, two suspension bridges, one concrete bridge at Butwal, part of Butwal city was completely damaged and many hundred people lost their life. Similarly, on the night of 2nd August 2014 (02:30 AM), a huge landslide, famously known as “Jure Slide”, took place along Sunkoshi River valley on Araniko Highway that connects Kathmandu with Tibet. The landslide killed 156 people who were on sleep in their houses, savaged 120 houses, partially damaged 37 more, dammed Sunkoshi river creating an artificial dam of approximately 50 m high and an approximately 3 km long reservoir was formed. A huge flood occurred after partial breach of the dam damaging barrage structures of the Sunkoshi Hydropower Project located about one kilometer downstream from the slide area. It took over two months to drain artificially created reservoir. The main aim of this manuscript is to describe and evaluate Jure landslide. Critical aspects on the causes of landslide will be highlighted giving emphasis on topography, geology, rock mass, monsoon, and earthquake.