Colombia: 500 Colombian Towns Face Landslide Risk

Apr 4, 2017 | Brigitte Leoni, UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
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More than 500 municipalities are currently at risk of landslides, according to Mr. Omar Franco, Director of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies of Colombia. Of these, 182 are on orange to red alert. The causes are linked to extreme weather events, combined with deforestation and inadequate land use management. The rainfall level for Mocoa in the Department of Putumayo in the Amazon region, reached 129 millimetres and 80% of that fell in just three hours in the middle of the night, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. and this led to the overflow of the Mocoa, Mulato and Sangoyaco rivers.