These are some of the most famous — and most powerful — mudslides in history. Each one taught people something new about how to stay safe!
🇻🇪 The Vargas Tragedy, Venezuela (1999)
One of the worst mudslide disasters ever. In December 1999, nearly a metre of rain fell in just a few days on the steep mountains along Venezuela's coast. Thousands of mudslides roared down the slopes at once, sweeping entire neighbourhoods out to sea. The disaster changed how the country maps dangerous slopes and warns its people.
🇺🇸 The Oso Mudslide, USA (2014)
On a quiet Saturday morning in March 2014, after weeks of rain, a whole hillside near the tiny town of Oso, Washington, suddenly collapsed. In seconds, millions of tonnes of mud flowed across the valley, covering a highway and dozens of homes. It was the deadliest mudslide in US history, and rescue teams searched the mud for weeks.
🇸🇱 Freetown Mudslide, Sierra Leone (2017)
In August 2017, after days of torrential rain, part of a mountain above Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone in West Africa, collapsed in the early morning. A river of red mud poured through sleeping neighbourhoods. People from the whole city came to dig and help, and charities rebuilt safer homes on flatter ground.
A fresh slide scar on a hillside near Cusco, Peru, in 2018. You can clearly see where the slope let go and everything slid downhill, leaving bare earth behind. See source ↓
📚 Picture Sources
- Photo 1 — Landslide near Cusco, Peru, 2018. From Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Landslide_in_Cusco,_Peru_-_2018.jpg
