Attachments
Description of the Event
Date of event
18-01-2026
What happened, where and when?
On 18 January 2026, the city of Comodoro Rivadavia, located in the province of Chubut, southern Argentina, registered landslides of significant magnitude in urban sectors located on unstable slopes, particularly in areas near Cerro Hermitte, where there were more than 1,500 homes. The event manifested itself through progressive and sudden movements of the ground, generating cracks, soil displacements and compromising the structural stability of homes and critical infrastructure.
Preliminary technical assessments indicated that the event was associated with pre-existing geological instability related to soil composition—with the presence of poorly consolidated materials and expansive clays—compounded by triggering factors such as recent variations in humidity, steep slopes, and urbanization processes in risk areas. These conditions favored the reactivation of old landslide planes, increasing the likelihood of new landslides.
As a direct consequence of the event, dozens of homes suffered structural damage, affecting walls, sidewalks, streets, service networks and accesses, which forced local authorities to order mass evacuations of families residing in highly vulnerable neighborhoods: Sismográfica, El Marquesado, Los Tilos, Médanos and Mazarredo, and surrounding sectors. Likewise, interruptions of essential services – including gas, water and electricity – were recorded as a safety measure against the risk of new displacements.
During the early hours of the emergency, response agencies faced operational constraints due to unsafe access to affected areas, unstable terrain, and the risk of progressive collapse. However, response actions quickly intensified, mobilizing municipal, provincial, and national resources, specialized technical teams, security forces, and civil society organizations, with the active participation of the Argentine Red Cross in humanitarian support, needs assessment, and assistance to the evacuated population.
A Crisis Committee was formed on the ground, composed of local, provincial, and national authorities and technical agencies, with the aim of coordinating response actions, monitoring the development of the event, and defining mitigation and early recovery measures.
Given the magnitude of the event, its impact on densely populated urban areas, and the latent risk of recurrence, the emergency gained high visibility at the national level, receiving widespread coverage in the media and specialized organizations.
Even at the time of drafting this Action Plan, the affected terrain remained highly unstable, causing the evacuation zone to expand further and further and causing more damage every day, a situation that is expected to continue in the coming days.