An update on the 22 July 2024 in Gofa Zone, Ethiopia landslides

The Landslide Blog is written by Dave Petley, who is widely recognized as a world leader in the study and management of landslides.

The Addis Standard has an update on the dreadful series of landslides that struck Gofa Zone in Ethiopia on 22 July 2024. The latest indication is that 229 people are known to have lost their lives, of whom 148 were male and 81 were women. There are fears that the death toll will rise further.

This is the latest in a series of tragic, rainfall induced landslides in recent months.

Reliefweb has a slightly older report from the site, which indicates that three landslides occurred in close succession, It also indicates that the first event occurred on 21 July 2024, a day earlier than other reports have suggested. Intriguingly, it also suggests that 14,000 people have been affected.

This landslide sequence remains quite difficult to understand. There are limited images and video from the site. However, those that have emerged do not seem to show a landslide that is sufficiently large to cause this level of loss and impact. There may be a clue in one of the videos that has been circulating, for example on Youtube. This is a still:-

The main slide is on the left – this is the one that has been widely pictured. But note also another fresh landslide scar to the right.

So, perhaps the disaster was caused by multiple landslides that formed one or more channelised debris flows? Speculation at this stage – we’ll need better imagery and/or satellite images – but that would seem to fit the available information, perhaps?

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