Mass Wasting

Along with earthquakes, rainfall, and volcanic activity, landslides are also a major hazard for Mexico. “However, in comparison with other hazards such as volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods, landslides have not captured yet the full attention of civil protection authorities or even of a large group of academicians (ResearchGate.Net).”

One famous mass-wasting landslide was the Juan de Grijalva landslide in 2007 where 55 million cubic meters of land sled down to the Grijalva River after five days of rainfall, causing 20 deaths in a village of about 600 people. It’s one of the largest landslides ever recorded.




How does a mass landslide this size cause a lower number of deaths? Interestingly enough, the farm animals sensed it! The animals ran off and moved to higher ground and their owners ran after them saving the lives of those who moved to higher elevations chasing after their animals. 

Following the landslide, an artificial channel had to be created to drain the accumulated water to avoid another potential natural hazard. 

 

References: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287287431_Landslide_Monitoring_and_Warning_Systems_in_Mexico

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-010-9658-7

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna21590403

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 18, 2022 at 10:02 AM

    Hey Genesis,
    I found your post interesting and something that caught my interest was how the animals sensed the disaster before hand which in turn saved a lot of lives.

    ReplyDelete

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