The June 27, 2001 landslide on volcanic cones in Limbe, Mount Cameroon, West Africa

On 27 June 2001, between 12:00 and 14:00 hours GMT, the worst ever recorded landslides and floods in the history of Cameroon occurred on volcanic cones in Limbe, killing 24 people. This brisk event, which from eyewitness reports, lasted for about 30 min, produced more than 43 landslide scars, several tension cracks, destroyed 120 houses and rendered over 2800 people homeless. Field studies indicated the alignment of the landslide scars along a northwest-southeast zone antithetic to the Mabeta fault previously identified by a linear pattern of earthquake epicentres along its length, although volcanic rocks cover this fault. The landslides occurred on slopes with clips ranging from 35degrees to 80degrees. The regolith from the slide surfaces destroyed trees and houses, and blocked gutters producing floods along the low-lying coastal parts of Limbe. The mechanism of sliding ranged from planar sliding or mud flows on impermeable surfaces of basaltic flows and/or compacted clayey volcanic tuff, to rotational sliding, or toppling failure on the steeper slopes. Intensive rainfall which preceded the event for two days as well as human intervention on slopes in the form of farming and terracing to build houses, were important contributory factors. On the basis of these findings, measures aimed at reducing the impact of future landslides on the population in the area are proposed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.