MASS WASTING AND PREVENTIONS

          

Mass wasting is common in the country of Guatemala. Also known as landslides, these includisruption of earth materials, such as mudslides, rockfalls, debris flows, and earth flows and oftentimes these materials will slide in a downslope movement. Being surrounded by steep ravines, earthquakes and heavy rain trigger these wastings in Guatemala, and in the most deadly mass wasting which occurred in 2020, heavy rains of Storm Eta set off a mudslide, which not only caused hundreds of houses to be swept away into the river, but also resulted in hundreds of deaths. The mixed hurricane and mudslide further reached its neighboring countries from Panama to Honduras and Mexico, and was in Category 4 hurricane for Nicaragua. 

Due to the amount of significant damage landslides can result to, this hinders the speed of search and rescue teams. In the event of Storm Eta for example, rescue operations were slowed down due to the destruction of bridges and roads, and only one helicopter was available for rescue.  

Mitigation

According to ReliefWeb, it was found that the hazard that most affected the Guatemalan population during this period was landslides. However, there was no capacity for forecasting landslides. In order for mitigations to be made for future preventions, four actions were proposed from the Guatemalan Red Cross (GRC), GRC Delegation Disaster Coordinators: 

    1. Communication and awareness-raising on risk preparedness 

    2. Distribution one multipurpose cash transfers 

    3. Distribution of water treatment kits

    4. Production, storage, and distribution of safe water.  

Other ways Guatemala can prioritize in risk reductions include creating hazard and risk mappings, land use planning such as developing new infrastructure technologies in specific locations where landslide is not active, and having early warning systems designed to alert any sounds or feelings of movement of the grounds to help prepare safety and evacuation. More helicopters and boats should also be available in order to save victims and carry supplies.