Landslide Risk Management

Landslide Risk Management comprises the proceedings of the International Conference on Landslide Risk Management, held in Vancouver, Canada, from May 31 to June 3, 2005. The first part of the book contains state-of-the-art and invited lectures, prepared by teams of authors selected for their experience in specific topics assigned to them by the JTC

A landslide is a major geological hazard, which poses a serious threat to the global human population and various infrastructures like highways, rail routes and civil structures like dams, buildings and others. Landslides occur very often during other major natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and volcanoes. The word landslide represents only a type of movement that is a slide. However, it is generally used as a term to cover all the types of land movements including falls, creeps, spreads, flows and other complex movements. Geological risk is a relatively new and not fully explored concept. There are many definitions of geological risk. Oftentimes, a scientific study or a scientific approach to the problem begins with a presentation of the author's position and the choice of the definition of geological risk for this problem. One of the most common approaches defines risk as the expectation of the damage, or the product of the probability of possible hazardous events on the damage produced. The problem with landslide risk management is that it is seen as a series of events leading to landslide risk reduction. It includes landslide monitoring, mapping, landslide forecast, engineering, slope strengthening, insurance and others. Strictly speaking, geological risk management includes: 1. Risk analysis and assessment; 2. Risk mapping (for the purposes of management); 3. Methods of risk management: a) regulatory normative-legal methods; b) organisational and administrative methods; c) economic methods (direct and indirect); d) insurance; e) engineering and technical methods - active and passive (monitoring); 4. Concept of acceptable risk. This monograph is devoted to landslide research based on the concept risk analysis, assessment, management and reduction.

Over the past decade there has been a gradual shift away from simply relying on engineering solutions to individual landslide problems, to the use of a variety of strategies to manage the problems over a broad area. Such alternative strategies include the use of building codes, land use planning controls, preventing water leakage, early warning systems and insurance schemes.This book addresses these developments and provides a multidisciplinary perspective on landslide management.

The handbook details the MoSSaiC (Management of Slope Stability in Communities) methodology, which aims to create behavioral change in vulnerable communities in developing countries. Focusing on maximizing within-country capacity to deliver landslide mitigation measures on the ground, it provides an end-to-end blueprint for the mitigation process.

This book documents the First World Landslide Forum, which was jointly organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), eight UN organizations (UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UN/ISDR, UNU, UNEP, World Bank, UNDP) and four NGOs (International Council for Science, World Federation of Engineering Organizations, Kyoto Univ. and Japan Landslide Society) in Tokyo in 2008. The material consists of four parts: The Open Forum "Progress of IPL Activities; Four Thematic Lectures in the Plenary Symposium "Global Landslide Risk Reduction"; Six Keynote Lectures in the Plenary session; and the aims and overviews of eighteen parallel sessions (dealing with various aspects necessary for landslide disaster risk reduction such as: observations from space; climate change and slope instability; landslides threatening heritage sites; the economic and social impact of landslides; monitoring, prediction and early warning; and risk-management strategies in urban area, etc.) Thus it enables the reader to benefit from a wide range of research intended to reduce risk due to landslide disasters as presented in the first global multi-disciplinary meeting.

With the increasing need to take an holistic view of landslide hazard and risk, this book overviews the concept of risk research and addresses the sociological and psychological issues resulting from landslides. Its integrated approach offers understanding and ability for concerned organisations, landowners, land managers, insurance companies and researchers to develop risk management solutions. Global case studies illustrate a variety of integrated approaches, and a concluding section provides specifications and contexts for the next generation of process models.

The 25 papers collected together in this volume present comprehensive coverage of all major aspects of landslide risk assessment, including the risk assessment framework, and methods for estimating probability of landsliding vulnerability and risk.

Landslides occur in all geographic regions of the nation in response to a wide range of conditions and triggering processes that include storms, earthquakes, and human activities. Landslides in the United States result in an estimated average of 25 to 50 deaths annually and cost $1 to 3 billion per year. In addition to direct losses, landslides also cause significant environmental damage and societal disruption. Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk reviews the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS)National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy, which was created in response to a congressional directive for a national approach to reducing losses from landslides. Components of the strategy include basic research activities, improved public policy measures, and enhanced mitigation of landslides. This report commends the USGS for creating a national approach based on partnerships with federal, state, local, and non-governmental entities, and finds that the plan components are the essential elements of a national strategy. Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk recommends that the plan should promote the use of risk analysis techniques, and should play a vital role in evaluating methods, setting standards, and advancing procedures and guidelines for landslide hazard maps and assessments. This report suggests that substantially increased funding will be required to implement a national landslide mitigation program, and that as part of a 10-year program the funding mix should transition from research and guideline development to partnership-based implementation of loss reduction measures.