Natural disasters

Guatemala has suffered hurricanes, floods, landslides and earthquakes; large-scale natural disasters that have claimed the lives of thousands of people.

2014 ~ 2018

On October 1, 2015, heavy rains triggered a major landslide in the village of El Cambray II within Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala—15 km (9.3 mi) east of Guatemala City, killing at least 280 people and leaving dozens unaccounted for across the village. The landslide leveled much of the village, leaving some areas under 15 m (49 ft) of earth and debris. 

The death toll from a mudslide caused by heavy rainfall in the village of San Pedro Soloma, northwestern Guatemala, on Tuesday 20 June 2017 was 12 people, officials said. After assessing the damage caused by the mudslide in the department of Huehuetenango, the national disaster center Conred reported Wednesday that only four people were injured, and not nine as previously reported. The report released by the civil protection body said 12 people have died, the last of whom to be confirmed was a 94-year-old man. In total, 210 others have been affected by the mudslide. Some 35 houses have been damaged, three of them severely, while one highway was also affected. Conred (The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction) reported that 1,000 bags of clean water, 100 food baskets for children and 25 for families were sent to the mudslide-hit municipality. Heavy rains caused the mudslide on Wachuna hill on Tuesday. The mudslide buried a passing minibus, and the rescue brigades recovered 10 dead bodies, including three minors. Another victim was found in a house which was also buried under tons of land.

The 2018 Fuego Volcano eruption was a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows from the Fuego Volcano in Guatemala on Sunday 3 June 2018. The eruption included lahars, pyroclastic flows, and clouds of volcanic ash, which left almost no evacuation time and caused the death of nearly two hundred people. It was the deadliest eruption in Guatemala since 1929.