15 April 2011
Two more landslides in Colombia
Posted by Dave Petley
The start of the winter season in Colombia is being associated with the dfebelopment of heavy rainfall, resulting in floods and landslides (see link here in Spanish). Yesterday a large landslide occurred near to near El Diamante on the road between Manizales and Bogota. Unfortunately, at the time a small bus was passing through – the landslide is reported to have knocked the bus into a ravine, killing 14 people and leaving a further four missing with little chance of having survived. This report (in Spanish) notes that the bodies were found up to 25 km downstream from the accident site.
The video below shows the accident site. It appears that the even was probably a debris flow:
This accident occurred the day after another landslide, this time in village of Piedras Blancas, San Roque in northern Antioquia, which killed fourpeople when it buried their house.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
Dave – you seem to report a lot of landslides in Colombia. Do you have a correspondent there? Is Colombia in that mid-level of development where they’re wealthy and connected enough that any big or lethal landslide will get reported quickly, but not wealthy enough to keep people from building on particularly hazardous areas or mitigating the worst risks?
I’m particularly interested as my mother is from Colombia.
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