Deadly Landslide in Leyte

A large landslide buried the town of Guinsaugon, on the island of Leyte in the Philippines, and nearly 2000 people are feared lost. The provincial governor said that "the trees were sliding down upright with the mud." This is a sign of a slump. The island nation is prone to landslides, being volcanic and subject to tectonic compression and uplift. These factors combine to create oversteepened slopes of incompetent material. La Nina rains and deforested slopes were the last straw.