After the two minutes, the land was easily shaken up by the quake. Which left many uneven and unstable surfaces that caused landslides on higher ground. Which caused blockage of rivers, creation of barrier lakes, potential flooding, destruction of property and blocking of roads
A barrier lake was created due to one of these landslides, and was later named 'Tangjiashan' after the mountain above it due to size. 250,000 residents of Mianyang city were evacuated after water levels rose and threatened to flood the area.
Alongside the creation of barrier lakes, some of the landslides and rockfalls also caused major damage to roads and railways. As well as destroying potential recovery sites and shelter.
Destruction of a major roadway caused connections and access to the Beichuan-Wenchuan region for several weeks. This caused major delay on recovery and relief items that could have potentially saved lives or shorten the time period of trapped persons.