Publications

No abstract available.

In spite of improvements in recognition, prediction, mitigative measures, and warning systems, economic losses and casualties due to landslides in the Western Hemisphere appear to be growing as a result of increasing development of landslide-prone areas due to population pressures. This paper notes outstanding examples of socioeconomic losses in the Americas. Landslides impact the...

The January 13, 2001 earthquake (M-7.6) off the coast of El Salvador triggered widespread damaging landslides in many parts of the El Salvador. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Salvadoran government requested technical assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); USAID, in turn, requested help from technical experts in landslide hazards from the U.S...

No abstract available.

On February 13, 2001, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred about 40 km eastsoutheast of the capital city of San Salvador in central El Salvador and triggered thousands of landslides in the area east of Lago de Ilopango. The landslides are concentrated in a 2,500-km2 area and are particularly abundant in areas underlain by thick deposits of poorly consolidated, late Pleistocene and...

Since the early 1990's, the magnitude and location of an earthquake have been available within minutes on the Internet. Now, as a result of work by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and with the cooperation of various regional seismic networks, people who experience an earthquake can go online and share information about its effects to help create a map of shaking intensities and damage...

Rainstorms in December 1999 induced thousands of landslides along the northern slopes of the Cordillera de la Costa mountain range principally in the state of Vargas, Venezuela. Rainfall accumulation of 293 millimeters during the first 2 weeks ofDecember was followed by an additional 911 millimeters of rainfall on December 14 through 16. The landslides and floods inundated coastal...

No abstract available.

Large populations live on or near alluvial fans in locations such as Los Angeles, California, Salt Lake City, Utah, Denver, Colorado, and lesser known areas such as Sarno, Italy, and Vargas, Venezuela. Debris flows and flash floods occur episodically in these alluvial fan environments, and place many communities at high risk during intense and prolonged rainfall. In December 1999...

An important requirement for a comprehensive seismic monitoring system is the capability to accurately locate small seismic events worldwide. Accurate event location can improve the probability of determining whether or not a small event, recorded predominantly by local and regional stations, is a nuclear explosion. For those portions of the earth where crustal velocities are not well...

Methods of assessing landslide hazards and providing warnings are becoming more advanced as remote sensing of rainfall provides more detailed temporal and spatial data on rainfall distribution. Two recent landslide disasters are examined noting the potential for using remotely sensed rainfall data for landslide hazard analysis. For the June 27, 1995, storm in Madison County, Virginia...

No abstract available.