Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Flash flood

On December 3, 2011 a strange flood swept through a mountain village, killing six people, destroying 36 houses, severely damaging another 150. According to the news, it had been raining heavily causing a flash flood. But according to the locals, it wasn’t a normal flood, it was like a cold mud “eruption” from under the ground. It just suddenly happened, shooting boulders and mud up in the air as high as a tree according to a witness resting in a hut on a nearby hillside. The "eruption" site was in a small valley upsteam not near any houses but the huge boulders and mud overflowed into a stream bed flooding a series of hamlets downstream. They said something similar had happened about 100 years ago according to their ancestors. A geologist in the area advised them to move and not to rebuild the village as he said the same thing could happen within the next 20 years and so it would not be worth rebuilding on the same site. Of course, resettling hundreds of people is easier said than done. Meanwhile the government, the Salvation Army, and other relief groups have been bringing food, clothes, and other supplies such as shovels, buckets, and tools. The following is a video taken with a cell phone by Rinto, a relief worker bringing in supplies. As of today (March 12) many are still living in tents or with relatives in other villages nearby.

See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5MLnwqVqO0