![\"Ponzano](\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2017\/02\/17_02-Ponzano-1-e1487921488442.png\")
The landslide at Ponzano di Civitella del Tronto in Italy, via Blue Heart Planet<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n .<\/p>\n This area has been subject to earthquakes in recent months, which may have played a role in the instability.\u00a0 However, reports suggest that this is the reactivation of an ancient landslide, with the movement being induced by rapid snow melt in the last few weeks.\u00a0 My sense that this is a pre-existing, but until now inactive, landslide is probably correct.\u00a0 This is the same area as the image above from Google Earth, dated from last year:<\/p>\n Google Earth imagery of the landslide at Ponzano di Civitella del Tronto from 2016<\/p><\/div>\n .<\/p>\n The head scarp of the ancient landslide can be seen just above the road that runs across the image, a quarter of the way down the image from the top.\u00a0 Note that there is another, larger, landslide head scarp to the right of this, with the two landslide bodies apparently merging on the slopes below so as to be indistinguishable.\u00a0 It is unclear to me as to whether the movement is occurring across all of this area, or just on the left-most landslide mass.\u00a0 There is high quality drone footage of the landslide available on Youtube<\/a> that shows the magnitude of the damage to properties in the town as well\u00a0 the wider deformation.\u00a0 This footage was apparently captured by the local fire and rescue service:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2017\/02\/17_02-Ponzano-2-e1487921961111.jpg\")