Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy

144 Pages·2004·12.2 MB·English

by  Committee on the Review of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy

Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk:

Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards

Mitigation Strategy

Committee on the Review of the National Landslide
Hazards Mitigation Strategy, National Research Council
ISBN: 0-309-52995-6, 144 pages, 6x9, (2004)
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Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
Committee on the Review of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
Board on Earth Sciences and Resources
Division on Earth and Life Studies
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
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councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineer-
ing, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for
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priate balance.
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Copyright 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
COMMITTEE ON THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL
LANDSLIDE HAZARDS MITIGATION STRATEGY
J. FREEMAN GILBERT, Chair, University of California, San Diego
WILLIAM E. DIETRICH, University of California, Berkeley
J. MICHAEL DUNCAN, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg
PHILIP E. LAMOREAUX, P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates, Inc.,
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
GEORGE G. MADER, Spangle Associates, Portola Valley, California
WILLIAM F. MARCUSON III, W.F. Marcuson III & Associates, Inc.,
Vicksburg, Mississippi
PETER J. MAY, University of Washington, Seattle
NORBERT R. MORGENSTERN, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
Canada
JANE PREUSS, GeoEngineers, Inc., Redmond, Washington
A. KEITH TURNER, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
T. LESLIE YOUD, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
National Research Council Staff
DAVID A. FEARY, Study Director
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Administrative Associate
SHANNON L. RUDDY, Senior Project Assistant (until 1/03)
RADHIKA S. CHARI Senior Project Assistant (from 2/03)
v
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
BOARD ON EARTH SCIENCES AND RESOURCES
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Chair, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
JILL BANFIELD, University of California, Berkeley
STEVEN R. BOHLEN, Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Washington, D.C.
VICKI J. COWART, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Denver,
Colorado
DAVID L. DILCHER, University of Florida, Gainesville
ADAM M. DZIEWONSKI, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
WILLIAM L. GRAF, University of South Carolina, Columbia
RHEA L. GRAHAM, New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission,
Albuquerque
V. RAMA MURTHY, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
DIANNE R. NIELSON, Utah Department of Environmental Quality,
Salt Lake City
RAYMOND A. PRICE, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada
MARK SCHAEFER, NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia
BILLIE L. TURNER II, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
THOMAS J. WILBANKS, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee
National Research Council Staff
ANTHONY R. DE SOUZA, Director
PAUL CUTLER, Senior Program Officer
TAMARA L. DICKINSON, Senior Program Officer
DAVID A. FEARY, Senior Program Officer
ANNE M. LINN, Senior Program Officer
RONALD F. ABLER, Senior Scholar
KRISTEN L. KRAPF, Program Officer
LISA M. VANDEMARK, Program Officer
YVONNE FORSBERGH, Research Assistant
MONICA LIPSCOMB, Research Assistant
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Administrative Associate
VERNA J. BOWEN, Administrative Assistant
RADHIKA S. CHARI, Senior Project Assistant
KAREN IMHOF, Senior Project Assistant
TERESIA K. WILMORE, Project Assistant
WINFIELD SWANSON, Technical Editor
vi
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
Preface
. . . the mountain falls and crumbles away . . .
and the rock is removed from its place
Job 14:18
lmost every part of the world is subject to landslides. Wherever
there are mountains, or even hills, there have been, there are, and
Athere will continue to be landslides. Landslides are a component
of the erosion process, a continued leveling of the surface features of the
earth—both on land and beneath the sea—that are thrust up by the colli-
sion of tectonic plates. Landscapes are shaped by such erosional processes,
most dramatically by landslides.
Henry David Thoreau remarked, “The finest workers in stone are not
copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at
their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.” However, there are times
when the finest workers are not very gentle, when the natural sculptor
seems to be angry and impatient, flinging large pieces from the emerging
landscape, the sooner to finish the work. When people are in the way, the
natural process is termed a catastrophe. Its imminence constitutes a
natural hazard to mankind.
As the world’s population has increased rapidly over the past century
and as people move onto previously uninhabited land, there has been a
greater interaction between humans and landslides, often to the detriment
of humans. Just as people who live in earthquake zones, and who do not
understand earthquakes, rebuild with the same erroneous methods of the
past, so do people who challenge nature by building and living in harm’s
vii
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
viii PREFACE
way in landslide zones without understanding that the control of nature
is, in the long run, not possible.
Thus, this report is not about the prevention of landslides. What it is
about is improved understanding of the hazards posed by landslides, of
the role that improved education and the dissemination of information
can play, and about the mitigation of such hazards through improved
building and inspection codes and through improved engineering prac-
tice. The identification and assessment of landslide hazards and the evalu-
ation of the risks associated with acts of mitigation are discussed in this
report from two points of view. First is the objective point of view of the
natural sciences, and second is the subjective point of view that people
have to understand the bargain they make with nature when they choose
to live in rugged terrain.
J. Freeman Gilbert
Chair
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Partnerships for Reducing Landslide Risk: Assessment of the National Landslide Hazards Mitigation Strategy
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10946.html
Acknowledgments
he committee would like to express its appreciation to the many
individuals who provided briefings and other information during
Tthe information-gathering process: Karen Berry, Steve Briggs, Peter
Bobrowsky, Scott Burns, Vicki Cowart, Jerome V. DeGraff, Christopher
Doyle, Jerry Fish, Richard Fragaszy, Paula Gori, Edwin Harp, Rex
Hickling, Jerry Higgins, Sanjay Jeer, Jeffrey Keaton, Pat Leahy, Paul
Logan, Mike Long, Steve Olson, John Pallister, Donald Plotkin, Robert
Schuster, Barry Siel, Lawson Smith (deceased), David Steensen, Joan Van
Velsor, Yumei Wang, Jeffrey Weissel, Gerald Wieczorek, and William
Ypsilantis. The committee particularly acknowledges the provision of
information dealing with the International Consortium on Landslides and
other international activities by Robert Schuster and also wishes to thank
Yumei Wang, Scott Burns, and their colleagues for providing the committee
with first-hand information on landslides in the Columbia Gorge area.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for
their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with pro-
cedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review
Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid
and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its pub-
lished report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets
institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the
study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confi-
dential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to
thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
ix
Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.