The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides.
I highlighted yesterday that Ecuador is being very significantly affected by landslides triggered by high levels of rainfall at the moment. A good example occurred on 30 March 2025 close to Chanazana in Nabón. I have not pinned down the precise location of this event as yet, but it in the general vicinity of [-3.341, -79.051]. It is reported to be at Gonzapamba, but this place does not appear on the maps that I have available.
TVR has a news story about this event on Youtube, which includes some excellent drone footage:-
There is also a news story about the landslide on the Nuevo Tiempo website. This suggests that the landslide has a volume of about 150,000 m3, and has left five communities (La Ramada, Centro de Chunazana, La Playa, Gundugloma and Quiobamba) isolated.
The footage includes this image of the source area of the failure:-
Note the fine grained material but also the apparent change in geology on the right side of the scarp. The upper portion of the landslide appears to be at least partially rotational, and the blocked trapped in the centre of the source area suggests that it was retrogressive.
This is an image of the lower part of the landslide:-
This portion of the landslide as transitioned into a flow, although fortunately the mobility appears to have been reasonably limited. Note the small pool of water that has appeared where the valley has been blocked.
Reports indicate that about 70 metres of the road has been lost, but fortunately there were no human casualties.
