Hopefully, most of us will never have to experience the horror of a landslide. These things are some of the most underrated natural disasters of all time. Just imagine being on a hillside in a rainstorm. Everything is wet, but it all looks solid. But all of a sudden, the ground gives way and starts hurtling down the hill. If you’re not ready for them, these things can kill you. During one storm in Japan, people along Route 168 prepared themselves for impending doom by setting up barricades. Just imagine how much worse this could have been. (via Reddit) It’s a wonder of modern science that they were able to predict and anticipate this landslide. The rest of the world could learn a thing or two from Japan. Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/japanese-landslide/
Once a bustling town in Thessaly, Greece, Ropoto is now a ghost town. What happened to this locale to make it so desolate? Well, in 2012, a landslide caused homes and buildings to cascade down the side of a hill, displacing 300 families in the process. The 12-minute documentary Ropoto: Greece’s Sinking Ghost Town details what happened on the day of the landslide, reveals that the sinking continues to happen, and sheds light on the unwillingness of the Greek government to help its own people. As you walk through Ropoto, you might confuse it with the set of a disaster movie. Indeed, the town is still reeling from the effects of the real-life disaster that changed everything 4 years ago. YouTube / Greek Reporter Due to poor drainage, townspeople always relied on specialized machines to move the water around. But when the machines didn’t do their job in 2011, it led to a massive landslide that occurred on April 12, 2012. YouTube / Greek Reporter When the mountain began forming cracks in the ’60s, scientists warned the Greek government that something like this would happen. Sadly, people continued to build on the dangerous land for profit. YouTube / Greek Reporter var OX_ads = OX_ads || []; OX_ads.push({ slot_id: “537251602_56eb95b8af979”, auid: “537251602” }); Many people are still left without homes, and to this day, the town has no electricity. Many residents stay in barns with their animals. Since the last landslide, the town has slipped between 10 and 15 centimeters down the hillside, and Ropoto continues to sink more every year. YouTube / Greek Reporter Here is the entire documentary. It features one of the village’s former council members, Yorgos Roubies. (via Oddity Central) The Greek government refuses to send aid to Ropoto. Some villagers say that they still receive bills for taxes on properties that were ripped out from under them years ago. Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/ropoto/
