Team META

Landslide Forum

Several hundred thousand people reside in a confined coastal zone in the state of Vargas
north of Caracas, Venezuela. The community is susceptible to landslides caused by episodic
rainfall. Further, nineteen thousand people were killed in landslides and flash floods along the
coast of Vargas and other northern Venezuelan cities, causing major property damage and
altering hillslopes and the flow of streams. Hence, the predominant agents of destruction were a
combination of debris flows that transported enormous boulders and flash floods with
exceptionally high sediment loads.

This example from Venezuela illustrates the potential for catastrophic loss of life and
property when a large population resides on alluvial fans. Deposition of eroded silt at the base of
mountain ranges creates alluvial fans, which are gently sloping, cone- or fan-shaped landforms.
Typically, alluvial fan flooding begins at the hydrographic apex, the highest point where
mountain valleys no longer constrain flow and spread as sheet floods, debris slurries, or several
channels.

On Monday, October 7, 1985, at around 3:30 a.m., a large portion of the Mameyes
residential area, located on the outskirts of Ponce, was destroyed by a rock block landslide that
occurred amid the heaviest rainfall. However, the landslide happened on a dip slope in material
that exhibits considerable physical changes when saturated. The stream channel at the slope base
was excavated sufficiently to expose the probable failure surface, thus providing the necessary
sliding geometry. Subsequently, Mameyes was densely populated with homes that discharged
household sewage straight into the ground, maintaining a more humid groundwater regime than
other natural slopes. The landslide occurred in Ponce during the heaviest rainfall intensity and
after two days of continuous heavy rains. Undoubtedly, the storm initiated the landslide,
although it was likely only one of the multiple causes.

However, the conditions described above that the Mameyes landslide must still be
regarded as active and has the potential for small-scale landslide activity under normal
conditions and large-scale landslide activity under situations of extremely excessive rainfall.
 We cannot prevent mass wasting in the long term as it is natural and ongoing. What we
can do is reduce or mitigate its damaging effects. The implementation of significant structural
flood control measures, such as checking dams and avoiding the affected area, are additional
methods or strategies for mitigating hazards. Monitoring, warning, and evacuation are non-
structural ways to hazard mitigation that lower the likelihood of human fatalities. In addition,
conduct regular slope inspections to look for open fractures or other ground disturbances that
could indicate an impending failure of the surrounding slopes.