“On Thursday afternoon, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said a water-soaked mountainside in the central part of the country had slid down onto the town of San Cristobal Verapaz, burying homes and leaving at least 25 dead.<\/em><\/p>\n “Two other slides in Huehuetenango had killed at least 12 more, he said. The president initially said more than 50 people had died in slides, but the individual incidents he cited did not reach that total. Later, David de Le\u00f3n, spokesman for the national disaster agency, said there were reports of 50 people missing in the Verapaz slide, but government rescue teams had not reached the site.”<\/em><\/p>\n News reports in Guatemala<\/a> suggest that the losses at San Cristobal Verapaz may be much higher.\u00a0 This image apparently shows the landslide:<\/p>\n The landslide at San Crist\u00f3bal Verapaz in Guatemala caused by Hurricane Eta. Image by Foto Prensa Libre: Courtesy of Mayor Ovidio Choc Pop<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n .<\/p>\n These news reports indicate that up to 75 houses might have been buried and that the loss of life might be about 100 people.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the losses from landslides extend further.\u00a0 In Panama, five people, including two children, were killed in a landslide that buried two homes in Chiriqui province near to the border with Costa Rica.\u00a0 In Costa Rica itself two people were killed in a landslide. In Nicaragua, two gold miners were killed when they were buried by a collapsed slope.\u00a0 In Honduras, there are reports of five landslide fatalities, including a child who was killed when her house was buried in San Pedro Sula.<\/p>\n It is very possible that the losses will prove to be rather higher in due course.\u00a0 I’m reminded of the terrible impact of Hurricane Mitch in 1998.\u00a0 Fortunately, at the moment this event does not seem to be on a par – Mitch killed 11,000 people.\u00a0 This included a terrible lahar from Casita volcano in Nicaragua, which killed about 2,500 people<\/a>.\u00a0 At the moment this event seems to be far less severe, but it is a reminder of the terrible vulnerability in Central America to these extreme rainfall events.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n Nature World News has a good article about the increasing impact of tropical cyclones as global heating continues to develop.\u00a0 Spoiler alert – seven out of 10 of the strongest storms have occurred since 2006.<\/p>\n![\"Hurricane](\"https:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/landslideblog\/files\/2020\/11\/20_11-Hurricane-Eta-1.jpg\")
Quickslide 1: The rising impact of tropical cyclones in a warming world<\/h4>\n
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Quickslide 2: The rapidly growing cost of making coal tips safe in South Wales<\/h4>\n