People often use the terms landslides and mudslides to mean one thing. They are also known as landslips, slumps, or slope failure. There are many types of landslides, such as Block Slide, Rockfall, art Flow, Creep, and so on, and we shall look at them on the next page.

Like the other natural disasters, landslides and mudslides are some of the most phenomenal and destructive natural events. They come almost when no one expects them, and they can occur and destroy things in a short space of time.

What is a Landslide and a Mudslide?

In simple terms, a landslide is a massive movement of rock, soil, debris, or earth material downwards along a hill or slope due to the force of gravity. The movement of the land may be flowing, spreading, falling, toppling, sliding, and so on. They can be dry debris movement or water-saturated (muddy) earth material.

A mudslide (also know as mudflows or mudslides), on the other hand, is a fast-moving landslide usually along a channel or canal.

When they occur, they may cover a small area — uphill to downhill or may travel over several miles from their source. Depending on the volume and speed, it can wipe out anything in its paths, such as houses, cars, trees, and electricity poles.

Landslides occur everywhere, although some places are more prone to it than others.