A landslide in southwestern Colombia has caused major traffic disruption: part of a mountain has collapsed, cutting off the main route to Ecuador for at least a month. This has been announced by President Gustavo Petro.
“The only paved road between the south and the center of Colombia, the Pan-American Highway, which connects us to South America, no longer exists,” said de Petro.
Monday’s landslide in the city of Cali destroyed 500 meters of the road and cut hundreds of families off from the rest of the world. In the end there were no casualties. The authorities had evacuated 700 people as a precaution. The landslide may have been caused by the heavy rainfall of the past few days.
Freight traffic will not be able to resume for a month, the president said. He announced “emergency measures” such as an airlift to prevent shortages in the isolated part of the country, where nearly a million Colombians live. These are the border towns of Pasto, Tumaco and Ipiales, the main border crossing with Ecuador.
Alternative: the ‘trampoline of death’
To reach the center of the country, travelers can take an alternative route, but not everyone is enthusiastic about this: it is known as the ‘trampoline of death’ because of the narrow road that stretches for 150 kilometers for the most part. winds along cliffs.
To limit the impact of landslides on road connections, the Colombian government has proposed building 70 new kilometers of the Pan-American highway from the area where the accident occurred. There is also a tectonic fault line there.
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