Week 8: Mass Wasting

 Chile's Mass Wasting 




Chile does experience mass wasting due to its position on the Ring of Fire, but it is not only triggered by natural events like earthquakes, and heavy rain. Just gravity can have an effect on mass wasting! What is mass wasting? Mass wasting is when rocks, soil, or debris end up going downwards. This creates landslides, rockslides, mudslides, and even avalanches which are a part of mass wasting. 

Chile has had many mass wasting activities from tectonic activities due to it being close to the Andes mountains. Earthquakes have triggered these mountains in the past. 


An example of Chile having mass wasting was the Villa Santa Lucia mud landslide that occurred on December 16, 2017, in the southern area of Chile. What caused the deadly landslides was the heavy rainfall and weak land. This caused the mud to cause a lot of destruction to infrastructure and even resulted in 20 people dead. The president of Chile declared a disaster zone and ordered rescue for those who needed help. 

One way that Chile uses mitigation hazards is to be aware of the areas you live. Chile has done a good job at building infrastructure away from possible mass wasting hazards. After the 2017 incident, Chile has worked on moving people to safer places to live to prevent further destruction. Since mass wasting happening in that area there's a high probability of it occurring again in the future. Chile does help its citizens to know how to be prepared for any possible mass wasting emergencies. They help give out information for people to follow and to try and get away if it is possible. Chile does try and monitor infrastructure and land to better plan and prevent any mass wasting.

Sources: 

https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/20/2319/2020/#:~:text=Landslide%20processes%20are%20particularly%20dangerous,2018)%2C%20increasing%20the%20risk. 

https://eos.org/thelandslideblog/santa-lucia-landslide-1#:~:text=The%20failure%20mechanism%20of%20the,retrogressed%20through%20the%20rock%20mass. 

https://opengeology.org/textbook/10-mass-wasting/ 

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/2/88 


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