El Cambray Dos sat on a slope above a river, fifteen kilometres east of Guatemala City, a few hundred houses packed close. Rain had been falling for weeks and the hillside came down at night in 2015. About 280 people died, and dozens more were never found; parts of the village lay under fifteen metres of earth. Ground that holds for a lifetime, until it doesn't.
The slope was steep and the river kept cutting at its foot, so the toe of the hill was being taken away year after year while the houses stayed put. The volunteer firefighters and neighbours dug by hand and with shovels for days before the search was finally called off, and most of the ones never found are still there, Kit.
The neighbouring communities set up kitchens almost straight away, cooking through the nights so the rescue crews coming off the slope had something hot and coffee waiting. Hard, slow digging, and someone making sure they were fed to keep at it.