Authorities in the northwest of Colombia have reported that at least 11 people have died and 15 have gone missing as a result of a landslide.
Authorities have issued evacuation orders and rescue orders for the area around Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, for the day after the landslide, with government officials advising that persistent rains are a serious threat to the area.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez stated that “we continue to support emergency and rescue work in Bello, where 11 people have been sadly reported killed, at least 15 have been missing, and more than 1,500 people are in shelters.”
As residents slept through local waterways on Tuesday in the early morning hours.
In Bello, a crowded community in the hills above Medellin, a mud wave swept through the area, leaving behind piles of debris and burying about a dozen homes.
Rescuers have searched for the missing using dogs, drones, and other means. In nearby community centers and schools have been constructed schooteries.
Makeshift homes built into hillsides, which can become unstable during periods of sustained rainfall, are particularly at risk from heavy rains. Many of the people who have fled Colombia’s rural areas for the relative safety of a city live in these risk zones, often the country’s poorer residents.
On Tuesday, the Medellin town hall issued evacuation orders for Villatina, which is located just outside the city of Medellin, stating that 23 buildings would be destroyed because of the potential collapse. According to the town hall, the order was based on earlier landslides in late May, and recent heavy rain has made the risk worse.
Source: Aljazeera
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