Landslide Photo Collections

Searchable USGS Photo and Multimedia Archive with Ordering Information

The Paez earthquake, 1994 caused landslides that led to 221 deaths. A landslide dam failed, and caused a debris-flow. Losses were reported as 0.5 million rupees for direct losses, and 0.2 million rupees, for indirect losses.

  • Destruction of vegetative cover on valley walls of the upper Río San Vicente, a tributary of the Río Paez, southwestern Colombia, by thin slides, debris avalanches, and debris flows triggered by the June 1994 Paez earthquake. July 1994 photo by Bob Schuster, U.S. Geological Survey.
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  • Brown-colored scars on steep hillsides sweep into the Rio Paez at the base of Nevado del Huila (elevation 5,262 m), a large volcanic complex in Colombia. The scars are pathways of dozens of landslides that removed wet soil, volcanic ash, and vegetation from the hillsides and produced a destructive lahar in the Rio Paez valley (flowing toward bottom of photograph). The southwest flank of the volcanon is visible in upper left. Photo by Bob Schuster, U.S. Geological Survey.
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  • The main lahar traveled down the Río Paez in the foreground (right to left). Buildings on the terrace are remnants of the town of Irlanda. Note the many small landslides on the valley wall, some of which continued as debris flows to join the big flow in Río Paez. A larger debris flow swept into the river from the side canyon visible in the upper left corner. Photo by Tom Casadevall, USGS.
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  • A masonry animal barn inundated by the edge of the flow. Note the tremendous impact force of the lahar. It was less than 2.1 m deep where it hit the structure. Photo by Tom Casadevall, USGS.
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  • Close view of the edge of the flow where it inundated Toez's main street and partially buried a house; some of the damage to the house was first caused by the Paez earthquake, in 1994. Photo by K.M. Scott, USGS.
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  • Site of Toez, Colombia, a town of about 1,000 people located 6.5 km downstream from Irlanda. It was overrun by the main black flow about 10 minutes after the Paez earthquake in 1994. Survivors here remember feeling the ground shake and hearing a rumbling noise several minutes before the flow arrived. They thought another earthquake was occurring. They could easily have gone upslope to safety if they had known they were feeling and hearing the signs of the lahar (what scientists call acoustic signals) of the lahar. Flow direction of the lahar was from left to right in the photograph. Note the high terrace rising behind the town--it consists of an enormous prehistoric lahar deposit from Nevado del Huila volcano. Photo by Tom Casadevall, USGS.
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