After Salvadoran slide, a debate about causes

Environmentalists charge deforestation and construction on the slopes of the Balsamo Mountains contributed to the massive landslide that killed hundreds of people in the Las Colinas neighborhood of Santa Tecla, just south of San Salvador, during El Salvador’s Jan. 13 earthquake. They say they talked for years about the need to protect the Balsamo Mountains, calling on government authorities to halt construction work there. “We said there’s going to be an earthquake and it would collapse, and it collapsed,” says Ricardo Navarro of the Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology, Cesta. Officials at the Environment Ministry reject the assertions. They say there were landslides throughout the country, regardless of tree cover. “Deforestation had nothing to do with it,” says Edgar Hasbun, an advisor to the ministry... [Log in to read more]

Would you like to Subscribe?