Deutsche Welle (English edition)
Norway: Several people injured in large landslide
The landslide hit the town of Ask in southeastern Norway, according to reports. Some 700 people have been evacuated and at least 10 have been injured, one of them critically.
A large landslide hit the town of Ask, the administrative center of Gjerdrum municipality in southeastern Norway, police and local media said on Wednesday.
Police reported at least 10 injured, with one being transferred to Oslo with serious injuries.
More than 20 people are unaccounted for — the number of people who have an address at the landslide site, police said.
"We don't know if these people are in the landslide area, if they are away on holiday or in another way unable to contact police," police said in a statement.
At least 700 people were evacuated, according to police. Several homes in Gjerdrum were swept away.
"Several homes have been taken by the landslide. Emergency services, with assistance from the Norwegian civil defence and the military, are in the process of evacuating," Norwegian police said on Twitter.
What happened:
Police were alerted about the landslide around 4 a.m. local time (03:00 UTC)
All available emergency re
sources have been deployed, including helicopters. Police, emergency services, the military and the Red Cross are assisting the rescue effort.
The evacuees have been sent to a nearby hotel to be registered and offered assistance.
The landslide caused power outages, impacting 495 residents, according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reports.
Geologists are also at the scene, assessing the situation.
Several houses were taken by a landslide in the early hours of December 30 A 'serious' situation
"Police are designating this as a disaster," Pettersen told broadcaster NRK.
Emergency calls had come in from people in the Gjerdrum municipality, home to 5,000 people, saying their whole house was moving, Pettersen said. "So there are dramatic reports and the situation is serious."
"Conditions are challenging. It is dark and the weather is bad," Pettersen said.
Norwegian rescue group Norsk Folkehjelp Follo said they had sent a total of 40 crew and 9 emergency ambulances to assist with search and rescue efforts.
Prime minister reacts
Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg offered her sympathies, saying: "It hurts to see how the forces of nature have ravaged Gjerdrum. My thoughts go to everyone affected by the landslide."
"This should have been a New Year's weekend where we should have had peace and quiet and maybe should have worried most about COVID-19 and not whether we have missing persons from a landslide," Solberg told Nowegian broadcaster TV2.
"It is a catastrophe," she told reporters after visiting the site.
Quick clay region
The area where Ask is located is known for having a lot of socalled quick clay — a form of clay that can change from solid to liquid form.
Masses of earth were still moving in what has been one of the biggest clay slides in recent Norwegian history, Torild Hofshagen, the regional head of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, said at a press a conference.
Broadcaster NRK reported Southern Norway has seen large amounts of precipitation in recent days, which may have caused the clay soil prevalent in the area to shift.