Wake up surprise - That was not an Earthquake - It was a mudslide

This morning we woke up to what we thought was an earthquake but did not quite feel like an earthquake but more like a tremble when a tank or large heavy truck passes by

 

It turns out it was not an earthquake but rather a series of mudslides happening off the highway less than 100 meters from our house, falling at least 200 meters.

 

Interesting enough, exactly one year ago today we took pictures of the first mudslide in this area and posted a blog around that time.  The 2 pictures below are of the first mudslide and you can see that only a part of the asphalted highway had fallen (to the right of the man or the trucks).

From Sep 11, 2012

From Sept 11, 2012



Here are pictures from today Sept 11, 2013.  The area where the trucks were has now also fallen away to a depth of 200 - 300 meters resulting that the earth below the new highway is now also unstable.  The earth is extremely saturated due to all of the rain and with trucks and buses driving over the area over and over and over, the vibrations of the earth just keep making it all fall off.

 

Unfortunately, 3 people lost their lives yesterday from this mudslide but now the local emergency workers have the highway shut down and no one is allowed to drive over the area.  This presents some problems for everyone and also us as we must find ways to get to clinics that are on the other side, including Clinica Caris.  This means taking the long way around which is about 1 hour or leaving trucks on both sides and having everyone walk from one side of the road closure to the other.  They have set a walking area about 50 meters from the hole which is good.

 Not sure I would want to stand that close!

 

Should make the news somewhere... 

 

Trucks, cars, buses, people piling up to see what happened, walk around to find a ride or wait to see what they will do about the highway. 

 

 Catching rides back to Chichi and on to the other destinations.

 

Walking behind our house - for those that have been here you will notice the warehouse where I want to put the indoor pool!  No such luck now, will probably become highway....