Landslides in Rio

Last Thursday in Niteroi, a suburb outside of Rio, a series of drenching rains set off a series of flash floods and mudslides. Because Niteroi is built on top of an old garbage dump, a landslide on the outskirts of Rio caused it to collapse. About 60 homes were destroyed or buried in the landslide. And because there has been a series of the floods and mudslides all of Rio’s airports and transportation systems have been stopped. It is possible that there are as many as 200 people buried. This is a situation different than Haiti because in Haiti, people were trapped under buildings and could be caught in air pockets. Here they would be trapped under mud. At least 98 people have died from the floods since Sunday.
Barrionuevo, Alexei. “Landslide in Brazil Burries Scores of Houses.” New York Times 8 Apr. 2010: n. pag. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. .