The physical environment and landslides in the Colombian Andean tropics

摘要

The geographical location of Colombia in the NW corner of South America in the Circum-pacific region with the most intense seismo-tectonic and volcanic activity of the earth, at the same time in the tropical zone with intense and abundant rainfall and with the country’s development in the mountainous region, with limited resources, contribute to make Colombia a very sensitive country to landslides, erosion, and other natural hazards, with particular characteristics, different from those that occur in other latitudes away from the Equator. The author of this paper has participated in studies and research on the issue of landslides in Colombia for over 40 years, with the development of inventories and zoning of landslides. The paper presents a summary of these investigations that provide insight into the landslides behavior in the Andean Tropical region.