Perhaps there has been abnormally intense rain this season. Maybe for a few seasons the rain has taken its toll on the nearby mountainside causing instability. Maybe new construction, logging, or mining, has taken place on this mountainside. A fire could have recently ravaged the area we are referring to, destroying the anchoring trees and plants. Maybe an earthquake has just hit, or the mountain is part of a volcano which has erupted. Possibly it is a combination of a few of these things. Whatever the reason, a tsunami of the earth comes crashing down upon your village and engulfs your abode along with many others. Comrade, you have just been killed by what is about to be explained in this blog post.

Out of all the natural disasters we have learned thus far landslides are the ones I have thought about least. Probably partly due to never living in an area where I would be directly affected by it. I have thought a lot about living in a mountainous area which I now realize should have included landslide contemplations. Russia has many areas that are at risk for landslides due to containing lands with mountains and glaciers. Global warming is increasing the intensity and frequency of this sort of events so it is definitely something that the Emergencies Ministry does and will continue to prepare for. According to one of my sources, 725 cities are at risk including some major ones such as Moscow. Another source says 500 of these cities face some sort of slope movement a year which is a significant amount of landslide-related activity. A landslide happened a little over a month ago in the Prokhladny-Baksan-Elbrus region leaving communities stranded. From researching this event you can tell that Russia has a pretty good emergency response team for they were quickly deployed and received reinforcements. It started as a group of 350 people with 50 units of equipment, whatever that means, and then there was a decision to send more. From what I can tell this wasn't a major disaster for only a highway was blocked. I can imagine a greater response team would be summoned up if a community hit. I found this book online that was all about geo-monitoring in Russia though I unfortunately did not have time to read a great deal of it. Also it cost $554.40 for the ebook O_o which I was not about to spend. The part I could read for free said that there are federal geo-monitoring centers that are tasked with looking for signs of/ keeping an eye on landsides.





During my research I found this video of what I would call a slow-moving landslide. It reminds me of videos of lava movements where the speed isn't rushed though damage can still be great. It's fascinating to see how this wall of earth and ice moves into the roadway.











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Works Cited

"Apocalyptical Full-scale Landslide Swallows up Entire Road in Ulyanovsk." GhostFront. N.p., 08 Apr. 2016. Web.

"Avalanches and Landslides in Russia." Climatechangepost.com. N.p., 12 Oct. 2017. Web.

"Emergencies Ministry Reinforces Group of Rescuers in Landslide Zone in Kabardino-Balkaria." ReliefWeb. Government of the Russian Federation, 01 Sept. 2017. Web.

"Emergencies Ministry Reinforces Group of Rescuers in Landslide Zone in Kabardino-Balkaria Rss." Emergencies Ministry Reinforces Group of Rescuers in Landslide Zone in Kabardino-Balkaria. EMERCOM of Russia01, 01 Sept. 2017. Web.

Hypnotizing Landslide in Russia. Youtube.com. N.p., 17 Apr. 2015. Web.

Keller, Edward A., and Duane E. DeVecchio. Natural Hazards Earth's Processes As Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes Masteringgeology Access Card. N.p.: Pearson College Div, 2014. Print.

Lacerda, W., Mauricio Mauricio, S.A.B. Fontoura, and A.S.F. Sayao. "Landslides: Evaluation and Stabilization/Glissement De Terrain: Evaluation Et Stabilisation, Set of 2 Volumes." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Russia: Over 500 Tourists Isolated following Landslide in Elbrus September 1." GardaWorld. N.p., n.d. Web.