One person has dies and two houses have been destroyed following a landslide in Rembon District, South Sulawesi, on Thursday 26 March 2020. The incident happened at about 4.00 am, and led to the death of Usman Tato, 65, who was sleeping in one of the houses at the time. This was reportedly the second landslide on the same hillslope this monsoon season, with other residents having evacuated the area on the advice of the Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana, but Mr Tato had been reluctant to leave his home, despite the pleas of his family. Landslides
are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess
pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments,
allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides
are caused by heavy rainfall.
A house destroyed by a landslide in South Sulawesi on Thursday 26 March 2020. Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana.
Monsoons
are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the
warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by
the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it
back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than
that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in
water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a
high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the
tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land
cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the
sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is
rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.
Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.
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