Mass Wasting in Brazil

Mass waisting also known as mass movement, is the geomorphic process where soil, sand, regolith, and rock move downslope typically as a solid, continuous or discontinuous mass, largely under the force of gravity, frequently with characteristics of a flow as in debris flows and mudflows. Landslides are natural processes triggered by complex relationships between many conditioning factors.

Landslide in 2020

In Rio de Janeiro city, intense rainstorms combined with steep slopes, usually occupied by slums, create the perfect conditions for landslides. Since January of 2020, heavy rainstorms in the Southeast Region of Brazil have caused flooding and landslides in the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro. The state capital of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, reported that this years rainfall is the highest it has been in over 110 years. As of late January of 2020, at least 70 people have died with 18 still missing, and an estimated 30,000 plus Brazilians have been displaced from their homes.

Landslide in 2011
There are landslides in brazil almost every year because of the landscape and heavy rain fall. In January of 2011 Brazil experience one of the worst mudslides in their history. Floods and landslides brought down towns along several mountainsides near Rio de Janeiro, killing at least around 900 people.The mountain saw approximately 10 inches of rain in less than 24 hours of rain. Families, cars, homes, trees all buried by the flow of mud running down the mountain sides.The disaster caused massive widespread property damage costing around $1.2 billion USD, leaving almost 3,000 homeless. They were also left without electricity, running water and phone lines. 



Sources: 
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/9/5/203/htm
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2317-48892019000200305
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/12/brazil-landslide-leaves-115-dead
https://www.dw.com/en/deadly-flooding-landslides-strike-brazil/a-52152383

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