Week 8: Landslides in Jamaica
This week, we discussed mass wasting, which is defined as any type of downslope movement of Earth materials. Mass wasting is more generally referred to using simple terms such as landslides, mudslides, rockfalls, and debris flows. Furthermore, mass wasting events do not require any triggers, but rather occur due to the influence of gravity. Aside from floods, landslides are the most frequently occurring natural hazard that Jamaica experiences. Moreover, they are typically caused by seismic activity, as well as heavy rainfall from hurricanes and tropical depressions. These mass wasting events have resulted is loss of lives, destruction to both infrastructural and natural environments, and long-term damage to Jamaica's socioeconomic development. From November 16th-18th in 2023 alone, landslides caused by heavy rainfall damaged road networks so badly, repair costs were estimated by the National Works Agency to be $409 million. On June 7, 1692, a massive earthquake occurred in the