8 January 2009
Guatemala landslide
Posted by Dave Petley
As the Guatemala landslide now fades from media prominence, Reuters have released probably the best image to date of the landslide site:
It is now clear that this was a a large rockslide (not a mudslide as reported elsewhere).
AP have released a good image of the site:
Whilst this Reuters image shows the runout of the landslide quite well:
Finally, CONRED released this image of the site to show the ongoing rockfall activity that caused suspension of rescue operations:
Meanwhile the number of recovered victims has now reached 37. About 50 victims remain buried in the debris.
Finally, there are various reports that an evaluation of the site has determined that the area around the landslide is too dangerous for habitation. My suspcicion is that this is right – the landslide appears to me to have occurred in a much larger landslide scar. I will post again on this soon.
I agree on the landslide scar comment, from the GE image it’s obvious that the “gully” where the landslide ocurred is much more deep, and with steeper walls that adjacent areas.
I will show you everything that you are very interesting. It’s so beautiful !