Mudslide Buries Hundreds of Homes in Mexico

Mudslide Buries Hundreds of Homes in Mexico
By ELISABETH MALKIN
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: September 28, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/world/americas/29mexico.html?hp


MEXICO CITY — Pounded by incessant rain, a hillside in the state of Oaxaca collapsed onto a village early Tuesday, burying houses in mud and stones and trapping hundreds of people as they slept, state authorities said.

The New York Times
As many as 300 houses in the village of the Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, in northern Oaxaca, may have been buried in the landslide, the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, told Mexican television. It was too early to say how many victims were trapped or buried under the earth, but Mr. Ruiz said that the number of missing could run as high as 1,000.

Military and naval units, state police and rescue workers were traveling to the remote village, along with earth-moving equipment, but progress was slow because the heavy rains had caused landslides that blocked the roads to the village.

“We hope to reach in time to rescue those families who were buried by the hill,” Mr. Ruiz told Televisa, a Mexican television network.

Tropical Storm Matthew caused heavy flooding in much of Oaxaca last week, but Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, in the Mixe region north of Oaxaca city, the state capital, receives heavy rainfall for much of the year. Under ordinary circumstances, the village is a four-hour drive from the state capital.