A Brief History
On October 29, 2014, the island nation of Sri Lanka experienced a fatal natural disaster known as the Badulla landslide. Monsoon rains loosened hillside soil which cascaded downhill on an incredible three kilometer path into the village of Koslanda, leaving at least 16 dead and hundreds missing, and about 150 homes destroyed.
Digging Deeper
Mudslides are an ever-present danger to people living on or below hills, and can be triggered by excessive rain, poorly engineered slopes, lack of adequate vegetation, heavy snow cover, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Of course, mud has tormented people in many other ways, making walking, driving, or sports on mud a horrendous experience. Mud has brought military operations to a halt or at least an agonizing crawl, from the trenches of World War I to the “Rusputia” that halted the German invasion of the USSR to US operations in Italy and Okinawa to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Men will quickly find out just how dangerous mud can be if they track it into the house!
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Have you ever been stuck in the mud?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notifications of new articles, please feel welcome to follow History and Headlines on Facebook and X!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Inc. World Book. Landslides, Mudslides, & Avalanches. World Book, 2009.
Lynch, E. P. F. Somme Mud. Random House Australia, 2010.
