Marines assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU) embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) pitch tents and create temporary homes while assisting with the rescue and recovery effort. In the past two days, more than 275 31st MEU Marines have been flown to the island to help in the devastating landslide that struck southern Leyte on Feb. 17, 2006. Essex along with the dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) are part of the Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group, the Navy’s only forward-deployed amphibious force, homeported in Sasebo, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Marvin E. Thompson Jr. (RELEASED)
On February 17, 2006, a disastrous rockslide-debris avalanche occurred in tropical mountain terrain, on Leyte Island, Central Philippines. Over 1,100 people perished when the village of Guinsaugon was overwhelmed directly in the path of the landslide. The landslide was initiated by the failure of a 450 m high rock slope within the damage zone of the Philippine Fault where the rock mass consisted of sheared and brecciated volcanic, sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. Tectonic weakening of the failed rock mass had resulted from active strike-slip movements along the Philippine Fault which have been estimated by other workers at 2.5 cm/year. The landslide involved a total volume of 15 Mm3, including significant entrainment from its path, and ran out a horizontal distance of 3800 m over a vertical distance of 810 m. Run-out distance was enhanced by friction reduction due to undrained loading when the debris encountered flooded paddy fields in the valley bottom at a path distance of 2600 m. For more information, please see the report by Evans, et al., 2007, online: http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/7/89/2007/nhess-7-89-2007.pdf