“…Its impacts can be devastating, as illustrated by some of the effects of the unusually strong El Niaeo of 1982-1983: (a) drought and wildfires in many nations of the western and southwestern Pacific Rim, southern Africa, southern India, Spain, Portugal, northern Africa, and South and Central America; (b) severe cyclones that damaged island communities in the Pacific; (c) flooding over wide areas of South America, western Europe, the Gulf Coast and some Caribbean islands; and (d) severe storms in the western and northeastern United States (Reynolds et al 1997). Furthermore, El Niaeo has been associated with greater landslide occurrence around the world (Ellen and Wieczorek 1988;Wieczorek et al 1989;Cayan and Webb 1992;Glantz 1995;Godt et al 1997;Reynolds et al 1997;Ngecu and Mathu 1999). However, in the Argentinian Andes this climatic effect has not been analysed in relation to mass movements.…”