A "landslide" occured in Medellin Colombia in the poor hillside neighborhood Bello. I put the word "landslide" in quotation marks because one article calls this mass wastage even a landslide while another calls in a mudslide. So I really don't know what went on on this hill in Medellin. But for all intents and purposes, I am going to call it a landslide. This landslide has killed 45 identified people and almost 100 are still missing. Of all those identified as dead, half were children, showing the vulnerability factor of children. Meanwhile the rains still continue and so far over 200 people have died due to these rains and over 1 million are homeless. The President of Colombia has declared a state of emergency, which opens up possibilities for humanitarian aid from around the world. But I believe this situation will play out much like that of Pakistan where countries will be afraid to Colombia due to corruption and the large narcotraffiking. The President is also urging other hillside residents of Medellin to evacuate after this horrible event after people pointed out other dangerous areas, which would be hillsides. I though this was kind of funny that they did not see this sooner, especially since Medellin is a large city with tons of poor slums on hillsides, so I expect landslides to not be a new occurance. Then the President says he plans to give the money to build new homes for these people in the same spot, which is obviously a bad choice.
Links:
Landslide article:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/09/c_13641069.htm
Mudslide article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703921204576006080570921602.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Evacuation article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11944125
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