March 31, 2017: MOCOA LANDSLIDE

Putumayo’s capital, the city of Mocoa, is surrounded by three rivers: Mocoa, Mulato, and Sancoyaco rivers.
Deforestation on the surrounding slopes may have contributed to this disaster, and President Juan Manuel Santos blamed climate change for contributing to the disaster.
The rainy season in Columbia extends from March-June, so floods and landslides can still occur after two months.
On Friday, March 31, about 130 mm (5.1”) of rain fell during a short period which fell on soils that were already wet during raining season.

The next day on Saturday, the rain during the morning
triggered a debris flow down the Taruca ravine in the
northwest side of Mocoa and the landslide with floodwaters poured into Sangoyaco River and went through the city of Mocoa.
According to Jonathan Godt (coordinator of the U.S. Geological Survey’s landslide hazards program), the landslide moved at 35-40 miles an hour and was very dense.
At least 254 people were killed in the city of Mocoa (population 40,000) in southwest Columbia near the border of Ecuador early Saturday.

Many people were distraught by loss of family and belongings, and there was a persistent fear of the possibility of a new natural disaster.
There was a lot of initial confusion for people since this landslide came without warning in the middle of the night, and many families were lost due to not being warned about the landslide.
After the tragedy, many families were missing other family members, and many lost all their belongings and had to start their lives over. Trauma and grief were present in many survivors, and because of the completely unexpected disaster, many survivors suffered from immediate and long-term psychological effects, such as anxiety, stress, insomnia.
Long term psychological effects include PTSD, depression, and anxiety, especially due to survivors not being able to forget their experiences.