Well, mass wasting is defined as any type of downslope movement of earth materials. In essence, a rapid downslope movement of rock or soil as a more or less coherent mass.
Today I will be focusing on a particular mass wasting even that occurred in Tiahuitoltepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Tiahuitoltepec is home to more than 10,000 people and when this town was receiving to much rainfall, it caused many natural hazards. For example, mass wasting was occurring because of massive deforestation. This led to mudslides, which caused mass wasting.
Sadly, this town is prone to mudslides during hurricane season. However some thing I found quite interesting was the fact that the government, had no intention to help Tiahuitoltepec knowing they were prone to mudslides, and even had locals living on steep hills! A mudslide began on September 13, 2010, causing the walls of nearby houses to crack as the earth began to move. Electricity and phone service was down, leaving locals worried and scared, even road ways were covered with debris or had washed away. During this time, officials advised Tiahuitoltepec president to evacuate the town. With the fact that government officials didn't even provide assistance to help them evacuate, the Tiahuitoltepec locals remained in place. Eventually, magnitude of the mudslide forced locals out.
Here are some pictures of the flood:
Now to prevent further disasters such as this one, Mexico has implemented an impressive database and visualization tool to map out the risks in the country.
References:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/06/25/mexico-and-the-world-bank-together-to-reduce-the-impact-of-natural-disasters
https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/mexico-oaxacas-mudslide-disaster-caused-by-deforestation-and-corruption/
