MASS TREE COLLAPSE-3000 trees instantly fall-remote region of Nepal

I can't see a 'whirlwind' in a mountainous region doing this. My first thought was that the trees had been illegally harvested and then the officials making up a story. Illegal timber is a huge industry for corrupt officials in Nepal, a country with virtually no income apart from tourism.
Strange it is reported on credible websites and no follow up.
Anyone have an idea how / where to get more info on this?
I will be there in 2 weeks although not in this region. I will ask around.

Wish there was a pic of the damaged area. That would clarify a few things already. Kind of pointless to speculate when we can't see how the trees fell.

i noticed this when looking for more info/photo's

The website quoted locals as saying they had noticed large cracks on the ground at the Shrikrishna Community Forest in Banke district, some 360 km west of Kathmandu, but the weather was calm last Monday when the incident took place.

source

large cracks could mean seismic activity as has been mentioned, it is possible that a tremor could cause the soil to "liquefy", meaning it loses it's cohesion and would not support the tree roots.

we defiantly need photo's.

Although this thread is very intriging Its also so very strange that there is very little follow up and pics available.

Im making a few assumptions here but would guess the area to be a very dense area of foresty, with mostly very big trees. Is it not possible that a very small incident (earthquake, landslide, wind or disiesed trees could cause a 'domino effect' wereby just one or two trees initially falling and crashing into other trees could cause all the other surrounding ones to fall???? (possibly increasing in rate logarithmicly)

Acording to the NEIC web site the closest quake to Nepal around 9-11-2008 was in Tibet PDE-W 2008 09 11 045223.65 30.83 83.46 10 3.9 mbGS

Link






Mod Edit: Link format - Jak

[edit on 5/11/08 by JAK]

I wonder if straight line winds had anything to do with it. I've seen first hand the damage that such winds do, including toying with trees.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by pieman


I do believe you are right pieman.
I went Global voice website and looked up faults for Nepal and found an interesting factoid. I cannot get the video to download to my real player, so I will post the site, compare the fault area of Global voice to the area marked out by the original article of the trees falling, pretty much the same place.

globalvoicesonline.org...

And here is the picture from the original posted article.



They are very consistent with one another, "Don't you think?"
And the listing's are all the way through November 3rd, 2008.

Down-bursts and micro-bursts are a good candidate as well.

ONE OF THE WORST: An usually strong and widespread down-burst event hit northern Wisconsin on the 4th of July, 1977, with winds that were estimated to exceed 115 mph, and completely flattening thousands of acres of forest.

Hundreds of trees in Sawyer county blown down by the northern Wisconsin downbursts. Photo by Dr. Ted Fujita, "The Downburst."

Damage from an intense "microburst" embedded within the larger "macroburst." Photo by Dr. Ted Fujita, "The Downburst."

Photos of a burst swath caused by a "rotor" microburst at Northwood Beach. Photos by Dr. Ted Fujita, "The Downburst."

A barn near Phillips blown apart by the downburst. Immediately after the storm, local residents reported that they were hit by tornadoes. Photos by Dr. Ted Fujita, "The Downburst."

Damage near Duroy Lake in Phillips. From "The Storm...July 4, 1977."

www.crh.noaa.gov...

With all the visual evidence here before us, it could of been either natural disaster application.
Amazing how mother nature can kick up her heel's at times!

[edit on 093030p://4174 by Allred5923]

Could be a few things for this to happen, but it is strange none the less.
I E-mailed the author of the source of this story from earthlink website for some tangible evidence i.e.- photographs, etc.
Hopefully we will hear something from them in a positive nature.

Its hard to comment without seeing pictures of this region...


What kind of trees are we talking about here?


The first thing that came to my mind, like many others, was the Taskigi incident...


This could have happen my many many things... Very intresting...

reply to post by VIKINGANT


You beat me to the chop-chop hop. I wonder too. plucky wasn't around, can I be assured that those trees made a sound? Right now the evidence is saying thee nay.

Termites and a domino effect?

I took the opportunity t contact the author of this story earlier today, and the reply was swift. Unfortunately, it doesn't give any further conclusions other than there was some bad weather in the area at the time of the incident.

I have not seen any further details on the Nepal tree felling story.
I examined weather records at the time of the incident, and did see some isolated severe storms in the area.
Proper attribution to the source was given in the Earthweek item.

Steve Newman,Earthweek AuthorUniversal Press Syndicate

SO, I guess all the answers we will get from this story will be what we have already acknowledged as probable causes for this event occurring.

Originally posted by must be a way
Although this thread is very intriging Its also so very strange that there is very little follow up and pics available.

Thats because all three reports linked so far are exact copies of the original report from the Chinese Tabloid Xinhuanet The Earthweek one is dated Sept 19th a week later.

news.xinhuanet.com...

I love how everyone is explaining causes without seeing pictures of the actual damage

The Russian Lake was cool... but the one in Louisiana was better...

Lake Peigneur: The Swirling Vortex of Doom
New Iberia, Louisiana
September 6, 2005



[edit on 5-11-2008 by zorgon]

Originally posted by pluckynoonez plucky wasn't around, can I be assured that those trees made a sound?

To hear a sound there must be an ear to recieve the sound wave and a brain to translate that to sound

A falling tree with no ears to hear it makes no sound, only a sound wave made of air compressions

Cheers Alfie. Great work. I too was a mazed that there was no follow up to what appears to be a credible news source. Your research does demonstate the possibility of freak forest flattening. Until I'd seen your posted evidence I would have considered it impossible actually.
That said stranger things do go unreported everyday in this mad world, especially in eastern cultures where english is rare.
I emailed earhtwatch as well, since I found no other references.
I still notice the farmer said the weather was normal.

We haven't been able to find any pics yet. Remote regions of Nepal, it is very possible there were no pictures taken. many villages there are the same as they were 1000 yrs ago, apart from the odd plastic washing pot and if a family is rich, they may own iron an cooking pot or a very antique hunting riftle.

Originally posted by serpentine
I emailed earhtwatch as well, since I found no other references.

On the contrary.

The original article names the Kathmandu District Forest Office person in charge of the investigation.

Hemlal Aryal

A bit of googling finds that he does actually work for them, and provides a phone number for the district office there.

The phenomonon of 'Clear Air Turbulence' or 'Micro Burst" can produce the very same thing. Blow downs such as seen in those pictures are not rare.

Zindo

reply to post by makeitso


That particular story you had posted was almost exactly what the original thread posters story had said.

However, Hemlal Aryal, a forest official, said that they would soon visit the site to find out what is behind the incident.

Hopefully when they do get out to the sight, they will make Pic's public for our own scrutinies.

Originally posted by ZindoDoone
Blow downs such as seen in those pictures are not rare.

if they are not rare then we should be able to find a photo of one yes?

Link please

[edit on 7-11-2008 by zorgon]