REMEMBERING 2O10’S LANDSLIDES
Rain-triggered, earthquake-triggered, hurricane-triggered, and wildfire-exacerbated landslides impacted
people in communities around the world.
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of
North Carolina, USA
2010
THE YEAR OF “RECORD AND NEAR-RECORD” NATURAL DISASTERS
IMPACTED NATIONS
• Haiti, Madeira (Portugal), USA (California) Brazil, Peru, China, Taiwan, ), Mexico, Central America (Guatemala, Nicaragua), …
SOCIETAL IMPACTS DURING 2010
• Hundreds killed and injured.
• Homes damaged, and destroyed.
• Cars damaged and destroyed.
• Lives and livelihoods of thousands adversely affected.
• Medical care needs of evacuees and displaced persons increased sharply
SOCIETAL IMPACTS DURING 2010 (Continued)
• Infrastructure (roads, bridges) damaged and destroyed.
• Emergency assistance slowed.
• $ Hundreds of millions in uninsured or self-insured economic losses.
BASIC PHYSICS OF LANDSLIDES
Planet Earth’s Restlessness (Because of Slopes and Gravity) Causes:
Landslides
LANDSLIDES
NATURAL PHENOMENA THAT OCCUR WITH OR WITHOUT
HUMAN ACTIVITY
LANDSLIDES
Falls, Topples, Slides, Spreads, Flows
LANDSLIDE HAZARD
• Landslides encompass all categories of gravity-related slope failures in Earth materials.
SLOPES
• Slopes are the most common landforms.
• Although they appear stable and static, slopes are actually dynamic, evolving systems.
SLOPES
• Material is constantly moving on slopes at rates varying from imperceptible creep to thundering avalanches and rock falls moving at high velocities.
THE COMBINATION OF WINTER STORMS, HEAVY RAINFALL, FLASH FLOODS AND THE RESIDUAL EFFECTS OF PAST WILDFIRES, EARTHQUAKES, HURRICANES AND TYPHOONS, TREE CLEARING, AND URBANIZATION IS INCREASING LANDSLIDE RISK EVERYWHERE.
PHENOMENA THAT TRIGGER LANDSLIDES
• Gravity slope failures are triggered by earthquake ground shaking and excessive precipitation
• The slope does not need to be very steep for a landslide to occur.
LANDSLIDES• HAITI
•MACHU PICCHU
•SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
•MADEIRA (Portugal)
•RIO DE JANEIRO
LANDSLIDES• TAIWAN
•CENTRAL AMERICA
•CHINA
•Mexico
M7.0 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES HAITI
THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE’S POOREST NATION WITH 8 IN 10 AT
POVERTY LEVEL HIT HARD!!
4:53 p.m.; JANUARY 12, 2010
THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE AND THE CARIBBEAN PLATE
PORT AU PRINCE: 1.8 MILLION IN A NATION OF NINE MILLION
EARTHQUAKE-TRIGGERED LANDSLIDE
EARTHQUAKE-TRIGGERED LANDSLIDE
RAIN AND MUDSLIDES IN MACHU PICCHU
2,500 TOURISTS STRANDED
JANUARY 28, 2010
On January 28, 2010, rain and mudflows devastated the homes of thousands of Peruvians living in the vicinity of Machu Picchu and created havoc for tourists visiting Machu Picchu and the
Peruvian authorities.
MACHU PICCHU
Peruvian authorities used helicopters to airlift some of the foreign tourists trapped by rain and mudslides that killed seven people visiting the famed Inca
ruins.
MUDFLOWS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:FEB 6, 2010
THE INTERSECTION OF HEAVY RAINFALL IN FIRST WINTER STORM OF 2010 AND BURNED OUT AREAS FROM WILDFIRES OF 2009 INCREASED RISK
FACT: MUDSLIDES INCREASE AFTER WILDFIRES
LA CONCHITA, CA
MUDSLIDES IN LA CONCHITA, CA: JAN 13, 2010
MUDSLIDES IN LA CONCHITA, CA
CARS TRAPPED IN FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES
CARS TRAPPED IN MUDSLIDES
MUDSLIDES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ANOTHER VIEW
SHOVELING MUD
As the first storm of the 2010 season moved into Southern
California, the National Weather Service issued flash-flood watches and mudflow warnings for wildfire- burn zones in mountain areas from Santa Barbara to San Bernardino
counties.
This storm tapped into subtropical moisture, giving it the potential to bring moderate to heavy rain and create significant hazards of flash
flooding and debris flows, especially in the 2009 burn areas of
Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
WILDFIRE-BURN AREAS ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO MUDFLOWS
SANDBAGS: FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST FLOODING
K-RAILS: FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST MUDFLOWS
FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES IN THE MADEIRA ISLANDS,
PORTUGAL
AT LEAST 42 DEAD
FEBRUARY 20-21, 2010
LOCATION OF MADEIRA
WHAT HAPPENED
The worst storm to hit Madeira since 1993 lashed the south of the
Atlantic Ocean island, including the capital, Funchal, Saturday,
turning some streets into torrents of mud, water and debris.
WHAT HAPPENED (continued)
The flash floods were so powerful they carved paths down
mountains and ripped through the city, churning under some bridges
and tearing others down.
FEBRUARY 21: FLASH FLOOD
FEBRUARY 21
WHAT HAPPENED (continued)
Funchal’s residents and visitors had to contend with a lack of fresh
water as a result of destroyed infrastructure.
FEBRUARY 21
FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES PARALYZE BRAZIL
WORST IN 50 YEARS
APRIL 7, 2010
The worst rains in Rio’s history triggered about 200 mudslides,
destroying homes in hillside community slums, killing as many as 200 people, injuring hundreds
more, and leaving thousands without shelter.
WIDESPREAD INUNDATION
RIO DE JANEIRO
CITY OF NITEROI--RIO DE JANEIRO AREA
FEBRUARY 25: RIO DE JANIERO, BRAZIL
BRAZIL: JANUARY 1, 2010
10,000 homes, mostly in the slums where about a fifth of Rio's people
live, often in shacks that are vulnerable to heavy rains, were severely damaged by
mudslides
SEARCH AND RESCUE
LANDSLIDES IN TAIWAN
EXACERBATED BY A M6.5 EARTHQUAKE AND RAIN
APRIL 26, 2010
LOCATION
LANDSLIDE
SEARCH AND RESCUE
TROPICAL STORM AGATHA TRIGGERS LANDSLIDES IN
CENTRAL AMERICA
EXACERBATED BY PROLONGED RAINFALL
MAY 29, 2010
Over 140 landslides were triggered in Guatemala and Nicaragua.
VICTIMS OF LANDSLIDES: GUATEMALA
LANDSLIDE IN ZHONQU COUNTY, CHINA
Over 700 dead, hundreds injured, and over 1,000 missing
Midnight - Saturday, August 7, 2010
A massive landslide triggered by heavy rainfall in Zhouqu County set
in motion the side of a mountain, that damaged, toppled, and buried
buildings and their sleeping residents on Sunday, August 8th.
An estimated 1.8 million cubic meters of mud and debris flattened
three villages in Zhouqu; In Yueyuan village, not a single
structure was left undamaged after the landslides occurred.
MUDSLIDE: ZHONGU, CHINA
DAMAGED BUILDINGS
In addition, rock, mud, and debris from the landslide blocked the
Bailong River which passes through the area, creating a 3km (2-
mile) long temporary lake.
Water in the temporary lake overflowed, sending waves of
water, mud and rocks crashing down on the town, inundating low-lying neighborhoods with up to 4
meters of water.
FLOODED STREETS
EXPLOSIONS RELEASED THE BLOCKED BAILONG RIVER
PRIME MINISTER WEN JIABAO CALLED FOR ACTION: AUG 8TH
The Chinese army deployed 5,300 soldiers with 150 vehicles, 20 speed
boats and four helicopters, and rescued 1,240 people from the
landslide mud and debris, or from the tops of buildings where survivors had taken refuge.
.
RESCUE WORKERS
Over a meter of mud in many parts of the impacted area and rugged terrain made it almost impossible for rescue teams to bring in vital heavy equipment and specialists
needed for search and rescue operations.
A SURVIVOR AWAITING RESCUE
SEARCH AND RESCUE
A SUCCESSFUL RESCUE
A SUCCESSFUL RESCUE
Streams of refugees left the area, carrying a few possessions they had managed to salvage; others
carrying the bodies of loved ones.
Power lines were down in two-thirds of the county
.
Thousands of homeless residents were forced to live in the open, or in
the rubble of unsafe buildings, as dry, stable areas were not available
to establish temporary shelters using tents provided by the
Government.
.
At least 45,000 people were evacuated, including the residents of downstream towns thought to be at risk from new landslides that may be triggered in conjunction with the
continuing rainfall.
.
RAIN-TRIGGERED MUDSLIDE BURIES HUNDREDS IN
SANTA MARIA TLAHUITOLTEPEC, STATE
OF OAXACA, MEXICO
SEPTEMBER, 28, 2010
LOCATION
LOCATION
The landslide, triggered by heavy rain fall from Hurricane Karl and tropical storm Matthew, buried
hundreds in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, MX, around 4 am as
they slept.
TROPICAL STORM MATTHEW: SEPT 24, 2010
Matthew moved northward towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula with heavy rain
fall.
During 2010, Oaxaca and some other parts of Mexico
endured their worst rainy season on record, with
heavy flooding and mudslides forcing
thousands from their homes.
Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, famous for its colonial
buildings and archaeological sites, is the home of the indigenous Mixe culture,
which is considered one of Mexico's poorest of the poor.
A VIEW OF THE LANDSLIDE
A VIEW OF THE LANDSLIDE
The slide dragged several houses some 400 m down the hillside along with cars, livestock and
light poles.
Bad weather and roads damaged by earlier
mudslides kept emergency rescue teams from reaching the residents of Santa Maria
Tlahuitoltepec
It is not clear how many homes were damaged or buried in the
slide and how many were killed.
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