Qualla: Gramalote https://qualla.com/gramalote en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Gramalote https://qualla.com/gramalote Gramalote: Introduction https://qualla.com/gramalote/ Photo credit Iacobuslatinus, CC BY-SA 4.0. On December 16, 2010, the ground beneath Gramalote began to move. Not in a sudden, violent jolt, but in a slow, grinding rotation that gave the town's nearly 3,000 urban residents just enough time to flee before every building, every street, every corner of their lives crumbled into a hillside that had decided it was finished holding them up. The La Nina rains that year were relentless across Colombia, triggering floods and landslides nationwide. But what happened to Gramalote was singular: an entire municipality erased from the map, its population scattered overnight into temporary shelters across Norte de Santander.

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Image: Iacobuslatinus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/d3kj-gramalote-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gramalote: A Town Founded Twice https://qualla.com/gramalote/ Photo credit Storicus, CC BY-SA 4.0. Gramalote had always been stubborn about existing. Founded first in 1857, it was established again in 1883, relocated less than a kilometer south of the original site. Perched at 1,040 meters above sea level in the Colombian Andes, with an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsiu...

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Image: Storicus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/d3kj-gramalote-a-town-founded-twice.mp3 0:06 2 full Gramalote: The Earth Lets Go https://qualla.com/gramalote/ Photo credit Storicus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 2010 La Nina event dumped unprecedented rain across Colombia. In Gramalote, the saturated western hillside gave way in what geologists classified as a rotational landslide, a type of failure where a mass of earth pivots along a curved plane rather than simply sliding downhill...

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Image: Storicus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/d3kj-gramalote-the-earth-lets-go.mp3 0:06 3 full Gramalote: Years in Limbo https://qualla.com/gramalote/ Photo credit Storicus, CC BY-SA 4.0. What followed the landslide was arguably harder than the disaster itself. The 3,400 urban residents dispersed to nearby municipalities, living in temporary housing while the Colombian government debated where and how to rebuild. The Ministry of Housing spent two full years select...

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Image: Storicus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/d3kj-gramalote-years-in-limbo.mp3 0:06 4 full Gramalote: New Gramalote Rises https://qualla.com/gramalote/ Photo credit Storicus, CC BY-SA 4.0. On March 11, 2017, more than six years after the landslide, the first 54 families moved into the newly built town of Gramalote at Miraflores. Additional families followed throughout the year as houses, schools, and a hospital were completed, with 1,000 new homes expected by early...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/d3kj-gramalote-new-gramalote-rises.mp3 0:06 5 full Gramalote: What Endures https://qualla.com/gramalote/ Photo credit Storicus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The traditions that defined Gramalote survived the earth's betrayal. The Feast of Our Lady of Mongui, the town's patron saint, carries a history that stretches back to King Charles V of Spain, who commissioned paintings of the Virgin Mary to be sent to churches across the New Wor...

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]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/3/k/j/gramalote-wp/d3kj-gramalote-what-endures.mp3 0:06 6 full