Deadly Phillipine Landslide
2006 February 17
Hundreds are dead and over a thousand are reported missing in a devestating landslide in the central Philippines. It appears that the mudslide was caused primarily by heavy precipitation in the region, although a small earthquake reported by PHIVOLCS preceeding it may have been the immediate trigger.
(Update: 2/21/06) Here’s a follow-up article from the New York Times. It seems the danger from landslides was well understood and communicated by Philippine geologists. The breakdown in reacting to these warnings appears to fall elsewhere in the system.
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I saw a headline that I failed to pursue, that said illegal logging may have been involved in this slide too.
I found the link to that article here.
“No-one is yet quite saying what is the definitive reason for this landslide – sometimes tragedies just happen for no obvious reason, the tsunami was one – but with heavy rain, with logging that has almost certainly been going on in the area, that is one of the theories.”