Massive highway landslide in Shimla district blocks National Highway 5, Himachal Pradesh

A large landslide took place at about 09:00 LT on September 6, 2021, blocking the National Highway 5 at Jeori in Shimla District, Himachal Pradesh, India. The road connects Firozpur in Punjab with Shipki La on the India-China border.

While the landslide did not cause any casualties, 'it was particularly interesting as it was caught on video from at least four different angles,' said landslides expert Dave Petley of The Landslide Blog.¹

"I am not sure I’ve seen a landslide captured from four different perspectives before, so this is a cool event," Petley said.

"Photographs of the site in the aftermath of the landslide site, extracted from one of the videos, suggest that the road was on an artificial bench with an unsupported cut slope above.

"The landslide appears to have occurred in dry weather, but we are in the tail end of the monsoon, which may have played a role in progressively weakening the hillslope."

A video shared by Himachal Traffic, Tourist and Railways Police on social media shows a mass of land sliding down a slope. Boulders can be seen tumbling down the slope amid a cloud of dust.²

Some vehicles narrowly escaped the slide as they are seen right on the edge of the point where the landslide occurred.

References:

¹ Jeori: a large highway landslide in Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh – The Landslide Blog

² Watch: Landslide In Shimla District Blocks Key Highway – NDTV

Featured image: HP Traffic, Tourist & Railways Police