Bolivia Landslide Photos: Neighborhoods, Cemetery Fall

Sorting Through Landslide Debris

Photograph by Aizar Raldes, AFP/Getty Images

Bolivians attempt to recover their belongings a day after the Sunday landslide in Valle de Las Flores. The La Paz neighborhood lost around a hundred homes, according to AP.

A city government spokesman called Sunday's landslide the worst that La Paz has ever seen, AP reported.

Landslides are not uncommon in and around La Paz, the world's highest capital city, at 11,800 feet (3,600 meters) above sea level.

(Related: "Haiti Earthquake, Deforestation Heighten Landslide Risk.")

Published March 2, 2011

Open Wound

Photograph by Juan Karita, AP

A neighborhood is split in two after a landslide in Valle de Las Flores on Sunday. The saturated ground began to fall after weeks of heavy rains.

Residents began evacuating after cracks had appeared in homes and roads on Saturday, according to AP.

Landslides usually follow other natural disasters, including earthquakes, storms, and floods.

(Related: "Landslides Raise Fears for Britain's Cliffs of Dover.")

Published March 2, 2011

Landslide Devastation

Photograph by David Mercado, Reuters

A woman weeps over landslide damage on Monday in La Paz, Bolivia.

One of nature's most powerful and destructive forces, landslides can occur wherever soil is loosened by rain or tugged by gravity. They cause an average of 8,000 deaths around the world annually.

(Also see "Satellites Can Warn of Floods, Landslides, Scientists Say.")

Published March 2, 2011

Landslide Landscape

Photograph by Aizar Raldes, AFP/Getty Images

Flattened homes meet a severely damaged road in the Valle de Las Flores neighborhood of La Paz, Bolivia, on Sunday.

Bolivian officials reported that the Sunday landslides had destroyed at least 400 homes in the capital, according to AP.

(Related pictures: "Bolivia Seeks Electric Car Future in Salt Flats.")

Published March 2, 2011

Recovering Belongings

Photograph by Juan Karita, AP

People salvage furniture amid destroyed homes in the La Paz neighborhood of Valle de Las Flores.

Most Bolivians live in poverty, especially on the Altiplano (high plateau), which surrounds La Paz and its nearly 1.6 million inhabitants (Altiplano pictures).

(Read "Bolivia's New Order" From National Geographic magazine.)

Published March 2, 2011

Fallen Cemetery

Photograph by David Mercado, Reuters

Bolivians look down at headstones on Monday, a day after a landslide in La Paz caused half a hillside cemetery to fall away.

Generally speaking, landslides can occur without warning and travel for several miles.

Published March 2, 2011