Landslides
Rainfalls and earthquakes have shown to be important triggers for landslides in El Salvador. The combination of these factors are critical in trigger thresholds and in controlling mechanisms. On January 13 and February 13 of the year 2001, the earthquakes that happened in El Salvador left around 1,000 death due to the landslides induced. The landslides induced during these events were associated with susceptible slopes highly intervened by anthropogenic activities. Rainfall intensity and earthquake magnitude alone doens't reflect the effects on landslide characteristics. Slop susceptibility also controls both spatial and temporal distribution of slides. Slope susceptibility to failure is what influences landslide characteristics.Material related to landslides in El Salvador is volcanic and residual soils. Natural slopes in volcanic soils are commonly nearly vertical and can reach several meter in height. Earthquake and rainfall landslides in El Salvador start as disrupted slides and falls in residual, alluvial, volcanic-ash, and volcanic-rock deposits. El Salvador is regularly affected by extreme natural events such as flooding, landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. There is reconstruction and disaster prevention in El Salvador. This includes measures taken to protect infrastructure, measures for organizational development and training and equipping village emergency committees. They have reduced their vulnerability to threats caused by extreme natural phenomena such as flooding and landslides.
References:
- http://dc.engconfintl.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=geohazards
- https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/21495.html
Although natural events like rainfall and earthquakes can’t be prevented, it appears that El Salvador is trying to be proactive when it comes to disaster prevention. Training, infrastructure protection and providing villages’ information and equipment all seem like a positive step. The country that I am studying, Madagascar, also has a great deal of rainfall due to cyclones and tropical storms which many times results in flooding and landslides. Deforestation is also a major contributor to landslides. Also, too many people build homes on slopes without the infrastructure present to protect their homes like retaining walls and adequate drainage systems. In Madagascar as well as El Salvador, people may have to be prevented from building in areas where the risks of landslides are too great or may have to be moved if they already live in these risky areas.
ReplyDeleteYou did very well in your research. It was helpful to include maps depicting the different information you were discussing. It allowed for better understanding of the effects the weather of your country has on the land and soil. It is very smart that strong preventative measures are put into place to reduce as much damage as possible.
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