Surviving a landslide depends on recognizing the warning signs early enough to evacuate, knowing which direction to move if you’re caught in one, and avoiding the secondary hazards that follow. Landslides can travel at speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour, so your best chance of survival starts well before the ground begins to move.
Warning Signs Before the Ground Moves
Landslides rarely happen without warning. The signs can appear hours, days, or even weeks before the main event, and learning to spot them gives you the most critical advantage: time to leave.
Outside, look for new cracks, bulges, or deformations in the ground, roadways, or paved surfaces. Fences that have shifted out of alignment, utility poles that are leaning (causing power lines to sag or pull tight), and trees tilting on a hillside all suggest the ground beneath them is creeping downhill. If you live near a stream or creek, a sudden change in water level during or right after a storm is a strong indicator that soil and debris are shifting upstream.
Inside your home, the signs are subtler but still detectable. Doors or windows that suddenly stick when they opened freely before, new cracks appearing in walls, ceilings, or foundations, and visible separation between walls and floors or ceilings all point to ground movement beneath or around the structure.
Sound is one of the most reliable last-minute warnings. Cracking or breaking wood, knocking boulders, and a deep groaning from the ground itself are all reported precursors. A rapidly moving landslide generates a loud rumble and ground vibrations similar to a passing freight train. If any of these sounds are getting louder, the slide is getting closer.
What to Do If You’re Outdoors
If a landslide starts while you’re outside, your primary goal is to get out of its path. Debris flows typically follow channels, valleys, and natural drainage routes, so moving laterally (perpendicular to the flow) is almost always better than trying to outrun it downhill. Head for the highest ground you can reach quickly. If you’re in a flat area with no elevation to climb, move toward the nearest solid shelter.
If you cannot escape the path entirely, curl into a tight ball with your arms protecting your head and neck. This position shields your most vulnerable areas from rocks and debris. Keep your back to the direction the slide is coming from if possible, and stay as far from trees as you can. Uprooted trees tumbling in a debris flow are among the most dangerous objects in the slide.
Avoid river valleys and low-lying drainage areas during and immediately after heavy rain, especially if you’re in terrain with a known landslide history. Flash floods and debris flows often follow the same paths, and a narrow canyon can funnel material at lethal speed with almost no warning.
What to Do If You’re Indoors
If the slide hits while you’re inside a building, stay inside. Getting under a sturdy desk, table, or other heavy piece of furniture provides the best protection from falling debris and collapsing walls. Position yourself on the side of the furniture facing away from windows and exterior walls, which are the first to fail under pressure from moving earth.
If you don’t have time to get under furniture, move to an interior room on the ground floor, away from the side of the building facing the slope. Interior walls, doorframes, and corners where two load-bearing walls meet tend to hold up longest during structural collapse. Protect your head with your arms and stay low.
If You’re in a Vehicle
Driving through a landslide zone is one of the more dangerous scenarios because your escape routes are limited to the road. If you see debris flowing across the road ahead, do not attempt to cross it. Even a thin layer of mud moving across pavement can carry enough force to sweep a vehicle off the road. Turn around and drive away from the slide path if the road behind you is clear.
If you’re trapped and can’t drive away, stay in the vehicle with your seatbelt fastened. The car’s frame offers some protection from smaller rocks and debris. Duck below the window line, cover your head, and stay put until the movement stops. After the slide passes, exit the vehicle carefully and move to higher ground on foot, since the road surface beneath your car may be undermined.
After the Slide Stops
The immediate aftermath of a landslide carries its own set of dangers. Broken electrical lines, ruptured gas mains, and severed water and sewage pipes are common. If you smell gas or see downed power lines, move away from the area and report it. Do not attempt to walk through flowing water or mud that’s still moving, even slowly. Six inches of fast-moving debris flow can knock an adult off their feet.
One of the most important things to understand: a second slide can follow the first. The same conditions that triggered the initial landslide, saturated soil, steep terrain, ongoing rainfall, remain in place after it occurs. Sometimes the first slide destabilizes adjacent slopes. Stay away from the slide area and do not return to a damaged home on a hillside until it has been assessed by local authorities.
Flooding is also common after landslides because debris can dam streams and rivers temporarily. When that natural dam breaks, the resulting flash flood can be as destructive as the slide itself. Monitor local emergency alerts and be prepared to move to higher ground a second time.
Helping Someone Who Was Buried
If someone has been trapped under debris, getting them professional medical help quickly is essential. Prolonged compression of the body, particularly the limbs, can cause a condition called crush syndrome, where damaged muscle tissue releases toxic byproducts into the bloodstream once pressure is released. This can lead to kidney failure, dangerous heart rhythms, and shock. Starting medical treatment before or immediately during extrication is the single most important factor in reducing deaths from this condition.
If you find someone buried but conscious, keep them calm and still while waiting for rescue teams. Do not attempt to pull someone out from under heavy debris yourself unless their life is in immediate danger from another threat like rising water. Rapid, uncontrolled removal of compressive weight without medical support can trigger the very complications that make crush syndrome lethal. Mark their location visibly so rescue teams can find them quickly, and relay their condition and approximate time of burial to first responders when they arrive.
Preparing Before Landslide Season
If you live in a landslide-prone area, preparation is by far your strongest survival tool. Know your evacuation routes and have more than one option, since slides frequently block roads. Keep an emergency kit with water, a flashlight, a battery-powered radio, and sturdy shoes near your bed or by the door.
Learn the topography around your home. Properties at the base of steep slopes, near drainage channels, or at the mouths of canyons face the highest risk. If your area has experienced slides in the past, the same slopes are likely to move again. Many counties and geological surveys publish landslide hazard maps that show which areas are most vulnerable.
During prolonged or intense rainfall, stay alert. Most landslides in populated areas are triggered by water saturating the soil on steep terrain. If rain has been unusually heavy and persistent, treat any of the warning signs described above as an immediate reason to leave, even if no official evacuation order has been issued. The people who survive landslides are overwhelmingly the ones who left early.