Landslides in Developing Nations

• Introduction
  • Top 10 Countries affected by Slides

  Country	Date	Killed
  Soviet Union	1949	12,000
  Peru	Dec-41	5,000
  Honduras	20-Sep-73	2,800
  Peru	10-Jan-62	2,000
  Italy	9-Oct-63	1,189
  India	1-Oct-68	1,000
  Colombia	27-Sep-87	640
  Peru	18-Mar-71	600
  China P Rep	23-Mar-34	500
  India	18-Sep-48	500

  Source:"EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium"
  

   

  • Country	Date	Affected
    Brazil	11-Jan-66	4,000,000
    India	Jul-86	2,500,000
    India	12-Sep-95	1,100,000
    Nepal	15-Jul-02	265,865
    Indonesia	31-Mar-03	229,548
    Philippines	19-Dec-03	217,988
    India	17-Aug-98	200,000
    Bolivia	Feb-94	165,000
    Brazil	Aug-00	143,000
    Chile	19-Jun-91	82,811

    Source:"EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium"
    
• Landslides in Developing Nation - Latin America
  
  • Near Quito, Ecuador
    
    • Date: March 11, 2004
      
    • Type of mass wasting: Landslide
      
    • Cause: unknown
      
    • Result: rupture of the Transecuadorean Pipeline (14th major spill since 1998)
      
      • Oil is Ecuador’s leading export & second largest source of government income.
        
  • Santa Tecla, El Salvado
    
    • Date: January 2001
      
    • Type of mass wasting: Landslide/earthflow
      
    • Cause: 13 Jan., 2001, El Salvador Earthquake (M=7.6)
      
    • Result: numerous landslides in volcanic rocks, PanAmerican Highway closed in two places
      265 - 450 people reported dead
      
    • Problem: battle between real-estate developers versus city officials, environmentalists and local residents
      
      • Claimed area was over-developed
        
      • “inherently geologically unstable” – local geologist
        
      • deforestation
        
  • Nicaragua
    
    • Date: October 1988
      
    • Type of mass wasting: Lahar
      
    • Cause: Hurricane Mitch
      
      • Stalled off the Honduras & Nicaragua coast
        
      • 25-75” of rain fell over three days
        
    • Result: 2000 killed when a crater lake overflowed and created a lahar
      
  • Cerro Musun, Nicaragua
    
    • Date: June 29, 2004
      
    • Type of mass wasting: mudslide
      
    • Cause: storms / deforestation
      
    • Result: 52 mudslides in Cerro Musun region (ecological preserve & rainforest)
      
      • 29 known dead
        
      • 18 known injured
        
      • 5,751 people affected
        
    • Why was there so much damage?
      
      • Deforestation & improper agriculture techniques
        
        • ~ 1,200 sq. kilometers of forest disappear every year in Nicaragua
          
          • 1983 - 76,668 sq. km of forests
            
          • 2000 - 55,977 sq. km of forest
            
    • Analysis of the Ministry of the Environment (Marena)
      
      • relation between activity and productivity in the forest is unsustainable
        
      • reduces the potential for hydroelectric production
        
      • creates a need for major state investment in accessing water for human consumption
        
      • raises the poverty level in the rural areas
        
      • and increases migration and colonization on the agricultural frontier.
        
  • Vargas, Venezuela
    
    • Date: December 1999
      
    • Type of mass wasting: Debris Flow
      
    • Cause: unusually heavy rains
      
    • Result: catastrophic landslides and flooding along a 40-km coastal strip north of Caracas from La Guaira to Naiguita, in the northern coastal state of Vargas, Venezuela
      
      • 8000 individual residences, and 700 apartment buildings were destroyed or damaged
        
      • Roads, telephones, electricity, etc cut off.
        
      • Total economic losses ~ $1.79 Billion
        
      • Original population ~300,000
        
        • Death toll ~30,000 or 10% of the population
          
        • Only 1000 bodies were recovered
          
          • Buried in mud
            
          • Swept out to sea
            
    • Why was there so much damage?
      
      • Cities were built on alluvial fans
        
      • Older homes not built on fans
        
      • Debris-Flow Deposits and Contours of Maximum Boulder Size on the Caraballeda Fan, Venezuela (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0144/plates/plate2.html)
      • Debris-Flow and Flood Deposit Thickness for December, 1999 Storm on the Caraballeda Fan, Venezuela(http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0144/plates/plate3.html)
        
  • Vargas, Venezuela
    
  • Date: Feb 10, 2005
    
  • Type of mass wasting: Debris Flow/mudslide
    
  • Cause: unusually heavy rains
    
  • Result:
    
    • 13 – 53 dead and 20,000+ homeless in the La Guaira region, Vargas, Venezuela
      
    • Government & people better prepared
      
• Landslides in Developing Nations - Asia
  
  • Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
    
    • Date: June 2, 2004
      
    • Type of mass wasting: Landslide
      
    • Cause: river erosion & rains
      
    • Result:
      
      • 1,000 resident & 200 homes evacuated, one tennis court destroyed
        
      • Many return to the same place to rebuild
        
    • Landslides have plagued the Thanh Da peninsula for 15 years
      
      • Annual events
        
      • Causes 100 ha of land lost & VND 100 million (US$6,000) in property damage
      • Solution?
        
        • Government building dikes
          
  • China
    
    • Economic Losses
      
      • Yunnan Province - one billion yuan (US$120.8 million)
        
      • Chongqing Municipality - 420 million yuan (US$50.7 million)
        
      • Total losses caused by geologic disasters dropped by 50% in 2004
        
        • implementation of the Regulations on the Prevention of Geological Disasters
    • Yunnan Province, China
      
      • Geographical location
        
        • The most southwestern province in China, with the Tropic of Cancer running through its southern part.
          
      • Natural Resources
        
        • Lots of rain
          
        • Tropical to Subtropical
          
        • More than 150 kinds of minerals
          
      • Xinping county, China
        
        • Date: August 2002
          
        • Type of mass wasting: rock & mudslides
          
        • Cause: Heavy rains & deforestation
          
        • Result: Several landslides in addition to flooding
          
          • Over 100 people dead
            
        • Problem: Deforestation
          
          • Since the 1960s, landslides have damaged 2,100 hectares of farmland and killed 187 people.
            
          • Hillsides cleared to plant tobacco, tea & coffee
            
        • Solution:
          
          • Central and local governments have spent more than 10 million yuan in landslide control projects each year
            
          • Three measures:
            
            • stabilizing mountain slopes through re-forestation
              
            • constructing levees to block mud and rocks
              
            • building troughs to channel mud and rocks to safe places.
              
    • Guangxi Province, China
      
      • Geographical location
        
        • Located in south China; a coastal province.
          
      • Natural Resources
        
        • Lots of rivers
          
        • Tropical to Subtropical
          
        • Coastal
          
      • Zuojiaying, Nayong County, China
        
        • Date: December 2004
          
        • Type of mass wasting: landslide/rockslide
          
        • Cause: Heavy rains & deforestation
          
        • Result:
          
          • damaged 25 homes
            
          • "affected" 108 people
            
          • 65 people missing
            
    • Chongqing Province, China
      
    • Geographical location:
      
      • On the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in southwest of China, bordering provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Shaanxi.
        
    • Natural resources:
      
      • Lots of rivers
        
      • 38 kinds of mineral deposits
        
      • Three Gorges River Dam
        
    • Date: June 8, 2004
      
      • Type of mass wasting: Debris Flow
        
      • Cause: Heavy rains
        
      • Result: About 200,000 m3 of rubble from a hill and gangue deposit slid 500 meters
        
        • 24 farmers from 14 homes nearby buried (source: China Economic Net)
          

LINKS

• Emergency Disasters Database (http://www.em-dat.net)
• Latin America
  • ADRC Latest Disaster Information: Venezuela:Flood:2005/02 (http://www.adrc.or.jp/latestinfo/View_E.php?lang=en&KEY=802)
  • Debris-flow and flooding hazards associated with the December 1999 storm in coastal Venezuela and strategies for mitigation (http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0144/)
  • LANDSLIDE HAZARDS IN EL SALVADOR TRIGGERED BY THE 13 JANUARY 2001 EARTHQUAKE (http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/ElSalvador/figure3.html)
  • Nicaragua Online: Mágico proveedor de agua, vida y belleza.(http://www.enicaragua.net/cerro_musun.htm)
  • Relief Web: Venezuela: Floods - Situation map (http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LDOK-69J2NV?OpenDocument&rc=2 )
    

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