Landslides triggered by Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua

We present an inventory of landslides and related downchannel effects triggered by the passage of Hurricane Mitch, October 21-31, 1998 in seven study areas in Nicaragua. The inventory was compiled from aerial photographs and field mapping. Most (perhaps 95%) of the landslides mapped were debris flows. The maps show debris-flow source areas as small as a few square meters and only a few meters deep that produced debris flows that traveled only tens of meters downslope, to landslides that covered approximately 80,000 m2, and produced debris flows that traveled at least 3 km down channels. The remaining 5% of mapped landslides were slow-moving earthflows that started moving during Hurricane Mitch and continued to move for at least one year.