Deadly mudslides

At least 400 people have been killed by the mudslide that swept through Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, on Monday morning. Another 600 are still missing, as rescue workers desperately hunt for survivors.

Freetown is an overcrowded city of more than a million, many living in makeshift settlements which are easily washed away in frequent heavy rains and floods. A key objective at the moment is to avoid the disaster being made worse by water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea.

Probably the deadliest mudslide ever was the one that hit Venezuela in the dying days of the last millennium in December 1999. It effortlessly swept away the shanty towns precariously perched on ridges around the capital Caracas.

But smart apartment blocks also found themselves buried under the mud. Most estimates put the number killed at around 30,000, with 140,000 left homeless, and more than 20,000 homes destroyed. For the story, see A Disastrous History of the World.

See also my post of 21 February 2010.

Landslide in Brazil's ancient capital

In Brazil, at least 27 people have been killed by landslides in Petropolis about 40 miles to the north of Rio de Janeiro.  The city was named after Emperor Pedro II, who ruled Brazil from 1831 to 1889, and was once the country’s capital.

The landslides hit Petropolis when a river burst its banks after some areas got more than a month’s normal rainfall in just 24 hours.  Brazil’s president suggested that some people had ignored warnings to get out of threatened areas.  

The same region was hit by a series of deadly floods and mudslides precipitated by heavy rain in 2011, when more than 900 people were killed in Petropolis and four other cities.     It is reported that promises by the authorities to invest in better prevention measures had not been kept.

*Landslides and mudslides are among the things that will be featured in my new book – Flood. Nature and Culture.   Here is the first internet whisper about it. (I didn’t write the blurb about the Old Testament.)  http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/F/bo16826611.html

Brazil's worst ever natural disaster?

More than 800 people are known to have died in the floods and landslides that have been afflicting the south-east of Brazil, and 400 more are missing after torrential rain washed whole hillsides away. It is being described as the country’s worst ever natural disaster.

The worst hit town is Nova Friburgo, where more than 320 have been killed. According to one analysis of the figures, about a third of the victims are children and adolescents. Many communities can now be reached only by helicopter.

As with so many disasters, there are now fears that disease may follow in the wake of the initial catastrophe. A number of people are known to have contracted leptospirosis, an illness spread by water contaminated with rats’ urine.

The deadliest mudslide ever was probably the one that hit Venezuela’s coastal strip in December 1999, after 36 inches of rain fell in just a few days. An estimated 30,000 people died. (See also my blogs of April 17, Oct 10, Nov 12 and 19, 2009 and Feb 21 and Aug 12, 2010).

Philippine floods

While the eyes of the world have been drawn to the floods in eastern Australia, those caused by heavy rain in the Philippines seem to have passed almost unnoticed, even though at least 18 people have lost their lives.

Nearly 90,000 families have been hit in 19 provinces, and there has been severe damage to crops. The rains have also caused mudslides in four regions, and five villages in Compostela Valley have been cut off.

With further heavy rain expected, the situation could get worse. Some observers see this extreme weather as another effect of global warming.

*Full house for my talk on London’s Disasters at Shoe Lane Library in the City of London on Tuesday! Thanks to all who came.

China's landslide

Heavy rain is continuing to disrupt rescue efforts after Sunday’s landslide in north-west China. Mudslides have blocked a road and river used for bringing in supplies, while emergency shelters have been flooded, and more downpours are forecast.

At least 1,117 people have been killed, and another 600 are still missing. Zhouqu county, where the disaster has happened, has suffered ten major landslides over the last two centuries, but there are complaints that the authorities’ cavalier attitude to the environment in recent times has made things worse.

More than 120,000 hectares of forest were felled between 1952 and 1990, and mining and the building of dams in the steep valleys is said to have made things worse. A report in 2006 by the University of Lanzhou – the provincial capital - had drawn attention to the dangers.

The deadliest landslide in history was probably the one that devastated Venezuela’s coastal region in December 1999. Thirty-six inches of rain fell in just a few days, and flash floods and mudslides are reckoned to have killed up to 30,000 people. (See also my blogs of 17 April, 12 and 19 November, 2009.)

Landslides - this time it's Uganda

The latest country to be hit by landslides caused by heavy rain is Uganda. More than 300 people are feared dead in the mountainous Bududa region about 170 miles from Kampala.

Because roads are blocked, mechanical diggers cannot get through to the stricken villages, and rescuers are having to work with their bare hands. President Museveni has criticised farmers for stripping hillsides and residents for building on flood planes.

One survivor said he was in a church when mud suddenly engulfed it. The five people sitting next to him were killed, but he managed to keep his head above the mud. The region often suffers from landslides, but this one is unusually deadly, and more heavy rain is forecast. (See also my blogs of April 17, Oct 10, Nov 12 and 19, 2009, and Feb 21, 2010)

This day….66 years ago saw perhaps the world’s weirdest ever rail disaster. There was no collision, no derailment. Instead a train became stranded in a tunnel in the Italian Apennine mountains because of ice on the track, and more than 520 people – almost everyone on board – died from carbon monoxide poisoning. For the story see A Disastrous History of the World.

Mudslides

Last week it was an avalanche in Pakistan, the week before another in Afghanistan (see my blog of Feb 18). Now heavy rains have brought floods and mudslides to the delightful holiday island of Madeira.

At least 40 people have been killed as tons of mud and stone were washed into the capital Funchal and other towns. The rescue effort has been hampered by the number of roads that have been blocked.

The deadliest mudslide ever was probably the one that hit Venezuela’s coastal strip in December 1999, after 36 inches of rain fell in just a few days. An estimated 30,000 people died – many of them inhabitants of the shanty towns that clung precariously to the ridges around the capital Caracas. (see also my blog of Oct 10, 2009).

Belated thanks to the Bernstein Crisis Management Blog for its welcome to my (then) new blog almost one year ago! http://bernsteincrisismanagement.blogspot.com/2009/01/dont-let-your-crisis-become-disaster.html

Thanks also to the Jersey Journal for its article on Disaster! – my new US book:-
http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2010/02/hoboken_docks_fire_of_1900_fea.html

Philippines - more floods

Less than two weeks after at least 300 people were killed in floods caused by the heavy rain from Typhoon Ketsana (see my blogs of Sept 28 and Oct 2), the Philippines have now been struck by the fall-out from Typhoon Parma.

Heavy rains triggered by the storm have caused landslides in Benguet province, where a number of towns have been hit and houses buried. At least 120 people are said to have been killed there. In Pangasinan province, the authorities have had to open dams to relieve the pressure from the rising waters, and about 30 towns have been flooded, leaving thousands stranded on rooftops.

The floodwater, landslides and continuing heavy rain are hampering the rescue effort, and the province’s deputy governor said the east of the state had “become one big river.” Across the country, the death toll is at least 160.

Three years ago, in February 2006, ten days of heavy rain and a minor earthquake brought a huge mudslide in the province of Southern Leyte. It caused widespread damage and the deaths of more than 1,120 people.