Having visited the area only a little while ago I am stunned by the devastating impact of the mudslides in Southern California. As the Exgaucho, who is familiar with the area, reports they are primarily the result of natural causes and attempts to prevent future disasters have been restricted to building some retaining walls. I am not an expert on the situation in La Conchita, but I know that during my years in Hong Kong the city was often terrorized by equally lethal mud and rock slides. In fact the geography of both places is comparable and it is the accumulation of huge amounts of water in the ‘soft-rock’ hills that ultimately triggers the deadly slide. In Hong Kong these were dealt with efficiently, dangerous hillsides where solidified with steel rebar and subsequently sprayed with huge amounts of concrete. The result was some sort of awfully looking grey moonscape, but it worked. We will probably see more of that now in Southern California which so far was less used to huge amounts of rain compared to sub-tropical Hong Kong.