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24 August 2015
My new paper: human losses from landslides in Latin America and the Caribbean
In my latest paper, written with Sergio Sepulveda, Regional trends and controlling factors of fatal landslides in Latin America and the Caribbean, we look at ten years of human losses from landslides across this key area of the world.
19 May 2015
Salgar, Antioquia, Colombia: a landslide killed at least 63 people yesterday
A debris flow at Salgar in Antioquia in Colombia yesterday killed at least 63 people and left an unknown number missing
7 April 2010
Widespread landslides in Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi in Brazil
Over the last few days the city of Rio de Janeiro, and its twin city Niteroi just across the water, have been affected by extremely intense rainfall – a reported 288 mm in 24 hours. The upshot has been a series of flash floods and landslides that have killed over 100 people so far. More heavy rain is expected today. O Globo has produced an interactive map of the Rio …
25 October 2009
New atlas of natural disaster threats in the Andes
On Friday the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) released an atlas of potential natural disasters affecting the countries of that region, which has come out of the PREDECAN project. It presents maps of the distributions of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, flooding, frost and drought, with a special emphasis on El Nino / La Nina. As far as I can tell this atlas is available only …
14 April 2009
Updated: Large landslide in Peru
Various Peruvian news agencies, such as Adonde.com, are carrying reports of a large rainfall-triggered landslide on Saturday night / Sunday morning in Peru. This slide, which appears to have occurred in the town of Retamas in Parcoy District of Pataz Province, has reportedly buried a number of houses, killing 13 people. The following perspective Google Earth image of the location suggests that landslides may well be a substantial problem in …
18 March 2009
38 years ago today – the Chungar landslide in Peru
Today is the 38th anniversary of a notable landslide – the Chungar rock avalanche in Peru. This landslide occurred on the banks of Lake Yanahuani (sometime spelt Lake Yanahuin), about 120 km north-east of Lima (see image below): The landslide, which had a volume of about 100,000 cubic metres, is shown on the image below. Unfortunately the Google Earth image resolution is low in this area, but you can see …
2 March 2009
Landslide buries a gold mining village in Peru
Reuters is reporting that at least 10 people have been killed and a further 30 are missing after a landslide struck the gold mining village of Huanchumay, which is situated in a remote part of Carabaya province. They quote a civil defence official, Victor Ibanez, as having said: “We have 10 dead so far and five wounded. We have no accurate data for the missing but are talking about 30 …
20 January 2009
Earthquakes, landslide disasters and the collapse of civilisations
There is a very interesting paper being published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dan Sandweiss, Ruth Shady, Mike Moseley, Dave Keefer and Charles Ortloff. This paper, which is reported in a long press release from the University of Florida, combines archaeology, geology and geomorphology to look at the collapse of the Supe civilisation in Peru, which survived for a couple of millennia in …
17 November 2008
Colombia landslide images
On Sunday a landslide occurred in the El Polbado neighborhood of the city of Medellin in Colombia. It is believed that 12 people were killed. ArabianBusiness.com has published the following images of the aftermath of the event: It is clear that this happened in a fairly wealthy area of the town, unlike many landslides in S and C. America, which occur in the slums and garbage dumps. Steep slopes are …

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.
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