The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides.

As Super Typhoon Yagi roared onshore on 10 September 2024, landslides were triggered across a swathe of Vietnam. The most serious event occurred at Lang Nu (locally written Nậm Lúc), in Lao Cai Province. France 24 has an excellent report that includes a gallery of images. The report indicates that 30 people are known to have died, with a further 65 missing, giving a total of 95 lives lost. As such, this is one of the most serious landslides this year, even though it has received limited attention in the west.

At this stage I have been unable to locate Lang Nu, and optical satellite imagery is not yet available due to cloud cover. This image appears to show the site, although this is unverified:-

The image appears to show a failure that started as a comparatively small landslide high on the slope, with a main track that widened downslope, probably indicating a large amount of entrainment. The images seem to show a fine-grained material, suggesting the landslide occurred primarily in soils and regolith. If these materials were saturated, this had potentially high runout speeds.

The site at Lang Nu is reported to be very remote, which has hindered the rescue. Note the other landslides in the image, especially those around roads.

At least two very dramatic videos have emerged of the landslides in Vietnam associated with Super Typhoon Yagi. The most impressive is this one, which is reportedly from Yen Bai Province:-

There is also this one:-