9 January 2014

Remarkable new video of a riverbank collapse (?) event in Abaetetuba, Brazil

Posted by Dave Petley

Abaetetuba or Abadetetub?

The above very interesting video has appeared on Youtube, showing a ground collapse event in Brazil.  The Youtube video page suggests that this happened at “Abadetetub, Brazil “.  I cannot find such a place, so I suspect that it is Abaetetuba:

Abaetetuba

Sinkhole or riverbank collapse?

A second uncertainty lies in the description of the incident, which is “The dramatic incident occurred when a sinkhole suddenly opened on a street in Abadetetub, Brazil on Saturday destroying 13 homes”.  To me this is unlikely, based on the images, although I cannot say for certain.  I suspect, but do not know for definite, that this is a progressive failure in fine sediments on the banks of the river, similar to this earlier example from Manuas in Brazil:

The news coverage of this most recent landslide has focused on the remarkable way in which a woman saved her child by throwing them from a window.  This is highlighted in the video.  The woman, who was pregnant at the time, also survived.

Has anyone seen the unedited version of this footage, or some photographs of the aftermath?