KEY POINTS

  • In mid-June, Peru's Achoma district experienced a landslide that created a natural dam
  • Authorities say it was not caused by an earthquake but by unstable terrain
  • The natural dam caused serious flooding in the area, bringing fears of further landslides

A NASA satellite has captured the destruction caused by the mid-June landslide in a valley in Peru, which destroyed properties and even created a natural dam.

In the very early hours of June 18, at about 1:40 a.m., a hillside in Peru's Achoma district loosened and slipped in a massive landslide that destroyed at least 200 acres of nearby farmland owned by about 70 families.

On June 23, the Operational Land Imager on NASA and the United States Geological Service's Landsat 8 satellite captured an image of the landslide, showing the major destruction it caused in a portion of the Colca Valley.

Landslide In Peru
Image: Satellite images before and after the mid-June landslide in Peru. The image on the left shows a portion of Colca Valley from June 7, while the image on the right shows the same area on June 23, days after the landslide. Landsat 8/NASA Earth Observatory

In the side-by-side image shared by NASA Earth Observatory, the image on the left is a photo of the valley from June 7, before the landslide happened. The Rio Colca river can be seen flowing through its natural course. The image on the right shows the same valley on June 23, days after the landslide, with a vast field of muddy debris blocking the Rio Colca.

The landslide created a natural 50-meter dam as the mixture of loose sediments, sand, silt and clay completely blocked a portion of the river, which can be seen in a close-up satellite image from PlanetLabs.

Apart from the initial destruction caused by the landslide itself, the dam has also caused flooding in the valley which, authorities are worried might trigger more landslides.

According to the Geophysical Institute of Peru, the landslide was not caused by an earthquake but was likely the result of unstable terrain. The Peruvian government has since declared states of emergency for the Achoma and nearby Ichupampa districts for 60 days.

Earlier in the year, heavy rains also caused flooding and landslides in Peru, killing several people and displacing hundreds of families.

Just day back Myanmar reported a massive landslide in a Jade mine, again caused by the heavy rainfall the area received.

So far, over 160 bodies have been recovered from the area. According to authorities, more would have died had they not warned people to stay away from the mining pits because of the monsoon season just the day before.

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