By IANS,
Bogota : At least four people died due to landslides in Colombia Sunday after several poor neighbourhood, located on the outskirts of the north-central city of Medellin, were crushed due to it, local authorities said.
The landslide destroyed five housing complexes early Sunday after soils in the mountainous area gave in to two days of torrential rains. Authorities fear the toll will rise, Xinhua Monday quoted Camilo Zapata, director of the municipal prevention and disaster attention System (Simpad) as saying.
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos had 15 days prior to Sunday’s landslide had alerted for landslides after the last month’s sharp increase in rains which regularly cause deadly landslides in this South American country.
This year’s rainy season in Colombia has been more intense than normal.
A large number of villages are located in marginal areas which are affected by landslides and flooding due to their proximity to a number of major rivers.
In Colombia, following rains, so far 307 people have died and 65 people are still missing in 2011. The rains have destroyed 7,454 and damaged 364,000 houses.
Last year, 319 Colombians were killed and 2.4 million people had been affected by landslides and flooding.