"We had houses completely buried, streets plugged and alleys blocked," Mayor Bender said.

Pilgrims Are Victims While there are few multi-story buildings in the area around Almora, initial reports suggested that landslides had caused many deaths by burying houses.

In El Limón and El Dorado there are buried houses.

Since the mudslide buried the village and houses so rapidly, Ozette provides good preservation of what a society looked like as it was before abandonment or after looting.

The snow has buried cars and houses and trifled with Japan's famed bullet trains.

The harsh, prolonged winter starts burying houses, blocking roads, and killing off the sheep of the Chalk.

The earthquake also triggered numerous landslides which buried houses and people.

The 17 who died today were killed when earth buried houses and trekkers' lodges, officials said.

In May 2008, it was discovered that 36 sites in town were used to illegally bury houses, barns and garages while Barrett was mayor.

Between 10,000 and 12,000 families suffered the severe effects of the White Earthquake which also buried several houses in snow.